Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The Magician Sued By Teller For Copyright Infringement Has Tried A Disappearing Act In Response
Techdirt: Nearly a year ago, we wrote about the disappointing news that Raymond Teller, better known as "Teller" from Penn & Teller (also as the silent guy in that act), was suing another magician for copyright infringement for copying one of his tricks. This was disappointing on multiple levels. As we had discussed years ago, magicians are an example of a market that has been hugely innovative over the years, mostly without copyright being used at all. In fact, it's not entirely clear that a magic trick can be covered by copyright -- even if Teller successfully "registered" this particular trick. Copyright registration is basically a rubber stamping procedure, rather than any serious review.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Why have there been so many articles recently involving copyright issues? Is the copyright system breaking down, or otherwise fundamentally flawed given advances in technology, or have I just not been paying attention? Also, I don't see what, exactly, would be the problem with having a jury made of magicians oversee this lawsuit, unless it was a legal issue, as I would think that a jury of magicians would be more able to tell if the magician's trick was similar enough to have broken copyright than another group of people. At least, I would hope that they would have another, non-affiliated magician on hand as an expert witness/consultant/whatever the term is for a legal battle.
Post a Comment