[WikiEN-l] Exposure of magic on Wikipedia

[Ray Saintonge]

MacGyverMagic/Mgm wrote:

>On 1/15/07, Bryan Derksen <bryan.derksen at shaw.ca> wrote:
>  
>
>> I don't see how. Copyright covers a specific tangible expression, not
>>
>>the underlying ideas contained within it. One can make a movie out of a
>>book and then have the book be in public domain while the movie remains
>>copyrighted, for example. I think the sort of IP protection you're
>>thinking of is more along the lines of trade secret or patent law, which
>>as far as I can tell don't apply here.
>>    
>>
>That's why I'm mentioning the instructional videos and/or manuals as the
>tangible expressed bit of the magic. The written instructions to magic trick
>are copyrighted - no doubt.
>
Maybe.  Some of these tricks have been around longer than the magicians 
want to believe.  That aside, the way in which the instructions are 
written is copyright, but not the instructions themselves.  If there is 
only one way of writing the instructions the copyright could be void.  
That's the merger principle.

Ec