Intellectual rights to magic methods

Magic secrets (referred to as methods by magicians) are not directly subject to copyright, since they are abstract ideas rather than realised expressions. However, the description of a magic method is a realised expression, and thus may be copyrighted; and the actual magic act performed by a particular magician may also be considered a realisation.

This means that, in most cases, revealing a magic secret - even one that is on sale elsewhere - is not a copyright infringement, provided the description is not a verbatim copy of another description that is otherwise available, and does not include details of a particular magician's stage adaptations of the trick. (It is worth noting that many of the books, DVDs and videos on sale to explain magic tricks are not sold by the original creators of those tricks, and thus no money is being passed back to the inventor.)

It is possible for a magic trick to be patented, which would allow the inventor exclusive rights to use or perform the trick. However, this is resisted by many magicians as the trick's method would then have to be disclosed and held on public file as part of the patent application.

There are also laws related to trade secret and contract which may apply if a person exposing a magical method has a) been required to sign a contract when they learned the trick, or b) been taught the trick from another magician, who did so on the understanding that the learner was another magician planning to use it in their act.

It should be noted that there are ethical issues associated with exposing magical methods publically. The usual argument is that it harms the livelihood of professonial magicians while conveying no significant benefit to those who learn the method (since the method will be of no use to the learner unless they want to become a magician, but in that case they can easily find more "proper" channels for learning tricks). Opponents argue that there is no obligation on any member of society to ensure that others are capable of earning money, and that many magic tricks require high levels of skill and hours of practice which are impressive even if the method is already known to the audience.