Over at Techdirt, I’ve been discussing a great paper on how the magic industry thrives without patent or trade secret protection. The paper is similar to Raustiala and Sprigman’s widely discussed “piracy paradox” paper, which sought to explain how the fashion industry thrives without copyright.
Jacob Grier, a friend and sometime professional magician, had a great post last week on the paper that I thought was worth highlighting:
My impression is that the most creative magicians invent because they love the art, want to improve their acts, and seek acclaim from other magicians. Copying is a problem, but not, as far as I know, one that’s significantly driving out innovators.
An ongoing and bitter dispute between two high profile gaff makers provides a telling example of how creative magicians deal with theft. The props in question are difficult and expensive to create, but once developed they can be reverse engineered. The more established of the two craftsmen has alleged that the other has copied many of his original designs. But he’s not giving up. This is what he had to say about the conflict on a magicians’ forum:
“Now some good things have come out of all this. I think that the feud/competition has actually increased my business by a rather large margin. And the competition has certainly been a catalyst for me to improve my products. That is good for the consumer, and also I have developed more pride in my work over the course. However, I really have to shake my head when I see these blatant copies of nearly everything I do. Not only that, [his] prices are substantially higher than mine, and I feel that I can safely say that I am putting a lot more time into making stuff than he is. Now I am getting advice to increase my prices to match his. Some think that higher prices mean better product, at least to those that aren’t in the know.”
This strikes me as the typical response of a truly creative individual for whom making money off of his ideas is just one of many motivations.
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