Selling my Trick..

[achmne94]

Hello
When selling my trick how do i protect it and how to prevent people from stealing it and can i make condition for buyers to not put the trick performance on the internet for example and to not tell the secret to other people who did not buy the trick.. and how can i prove that the trick is mine afterwards and the trick i want to sell i never performed it to audience.. and its not famous..
Thank you for helping !!

 

[RealityOne]

1. It is very difficult to protect a magic trick.

2. Under contract law, you can include any conditions you would like in a contract as long as the other party knowingly consents. Such language would not normally be a condition of sale, so you would really need proof that they consented - like a signature or a "yes, I agree" click. However, provisions like that would be difficult to specifically enforce, but you would be entitled to monetary damages for any lost revenue if they violated the agreement Chances are, the cost of bringing a lawsuit would exceed teh lost revenue for a trick.

3. Like any intellectual property, you would have to demonstrate that you developed the effect to prove it is yours. Proof of having written it down or recorded it would work. However, the chances that what you have created is entirely original is very slim. I suspect that there are other effects that use the same or similar method.

4. Why would anyone buy an effect that has never been performed for an audience?

 

[Bgrove2017]

I agree with David here. Before you release an effect to the public, you want to make sure it is what is called "audience tested". Until then, you and the potential purchasers of your effect, will never know if the effect is a real world "worker". This is very important. Unless your effect is strictly meant to only be used in promo videos and never actually performed for a live audience. That is possibly the only scenario where you should publish an effect without first performing it numerous times for an audience. I recommend you streamline the effect, practice it a ton and then go perform it for people to make sure it is ready for the open market. Good luck!

 

[RickEverhart]

Unfortunately as David has posted, the financial battle you would have on your hands would far exceed lost revenue for a magic effect. With today's technology and people who want that "immediate" gratification because they are the one who "know" the secret will post it online thus hoping to gain acceptance and credibility to followers. There are always knocks offs of magic props which undercut the original source which stinks, but there really isn't a whole lot you can do about it.