Penguin Magic say, in their 'Guidelines for Ethics and Innovation': "When bringing a new idea into the field, it's important to recognize where the inspiration and founding principles of the effect came from. Additionally, magical principles and sleights involved in the methods of magic tricks should be properly cited to give credit to the inventor. It is the responsibility of the inventor of a magic trick to properly cite all relevant sources of information. A properly cited effect will contain a reference to the original sources, principles, moves and sleights involved, who discovered them, as well as where the originating effects can be found (DVD, book, notes or retail product)."

We agree 100% with their statement, and that is the main purpose of this page. Many new effects do NOT cite their inspirations at all. Our rule of thumb as to whether a new item is a "rip-off" or not is to ask the creator "Where did you get your idea from?" Generally, if they released the trick to cash in on the popularity of another trick that is virtually identical, they won't be able to answer the question. Sometimes they will try to justify their "rip-off" by arguing that the other trick is not original at all and has its roots and inspirations in many older effects, Often this is true, because the other trick credits those effects and has usually spoken with the creators of the earlier effects to get permission to build on their research. The "rip-off" invariably has not.
 

This page will be undergoing constant modification and additions, so please feel free to email us with information, comments and corrections at katzkin@magicunlimited.com .

Hopefully, there will be no need for this page in the near future. Don't believe everything you read, educate yourself about the history of magic.

NEWSFLASH: I have recently received threats, both via email and personally, demanding that I take this web page down. The arguments were A: I am using copyrighted images. (It is legal to use images in order to make comparisons. Pepsi & Coke do it all the time in each other's commercials. It comes under 'fair use' in the copyright act and is permitted for purposes such as criticism, review, news reporting, etc.). B: This page contains slander. (I think they mean libel, slander is the spoken word. There is no slander here). The threats to me included lawsuits (which would be thrown out of court), being investigated by the IRS (I'm Australian, so not too worried there), and shrouded "you don't want me as an enemy" threats. Threats were carried out by one man who called several magic shops to spread lies about us. When we confronted him about this he admitted doing it and felt justified because we had created this page.

So just in case someone hacks our ISP and destroys this page in order to prevent magicians from knowing about their "knock-off" products, we recommend that supporters of this page copy it a spread it all over the world wide web. They may take one of us out, but the others will continue to fight the good fight!

FAQ: "Is there some way for inventors to protect their inventions using copyrights or patents and then pressing charges when their inventions are knocked off? I only hear of when magic effects get copied, but I never hear about the original inventors challenging the knock off manufacturers."

ANSWER: Most magic is invented by individual magicians, not companies. In the case of 'Healed & Sealed Soda' for example, it was invented by Anders Moden from Sweden. Once it was copied by another magic manufacturer and released on DVD as 'Crushed & Cured Cola' there was a perfect opportunity for him to sue. However, putting aside the fact that he lives on the other side of the world, he would first have to spend thousands of dollars assembling a legal team and putting together a case. The other manufacturer would argue that their product was different (the method is slightly different, not an improvement it actually leaves the can unexaminable, but in the eyes of the law that small change would be enough to throw the case out). Even if Anders was able to win, all that he would achieve at best would be to stop the company selling that particular product. Would he get damages? Probably not. Would he have his legal expenses covered? Maybe, maybe not.

When you weigh up the potential income for an inventor for a trick (usually only a few thousand dollars at the very best - exceptions like D'Lite and Card-toon are rare) the cost of suing a company is generally more than the profit.

On the other hand, the rip-off companies know the law and change the product just enough to avoid being successfully sued.

Even patented products like D'Lite are ripped off. Thousands of 'Light up thumbs' pour out of factories in China. When D'Lite sues them the general practice is to continue manufacturing until the last minute then declare yourself bankrupt a day or two before you are due to go to court. Suing a bankrupt company is fruitless. Generally the company will start up again under a new name and the process starts all over again.

The legal system, though well intentioned, works best for those with the funds to use it properly. In our small community of magicians, we need to rely on the ethical system instead.

- Tim Ellis & Sue-Anne Webster

NEW PRODUCT

THE ORIGINAL

For the official statement from Bazar de Magia CLICK HERE

For a detailed comparison of the two products CLICK HERE

Official statement from Viking Magic regarding 'The Obedient Die':

UNSEEN FORCES - DVD

Official statement from John Kennedy:

Not authorised by Colin Gilbert

Statement from Colin Gilbert regarding Magic Linking Mints:

"Magic-Mints never has nor will ever be 'approved' or 'authorised' by me. If you require any further proof or information please contact me by email - colinxgilbert@aol.com "

Not endorsed by Anders Moden

Official statement from Anders Moden regarding the release of 'Crushed & Cured Cola - DVD':

VIKING BREMA THIN CARD BOX. Manufactured by Viking. Viking Magic.

All of my items, Bendable pen, Perfect Pen, and Thought Transmitter, are original with me.

I did not give anyone permission to copy or manufacture them.

The instructions are all copyrighted.

In most cases I spent 6 months to a year to develop these effects.

If someone takes all of my ideas, research and development, then markets a copy, I am stuck with all of my time, research ,development, plus a few thousand parts that I had specially made.

If the people that advertise the Knock Off versions would just come to me, we would both make money and they would have a stream of new tricks by the Originator coming to them.

If dealers sell the knock offs, the people that supply original ideas will go into non magical items or elsewhere and new items will dry up (Is this worth it when you consider the number of effects that they could invent over years?).

If you sell a knock off item at half the price, you have to sell twice as many , and if it is a knock off, it is probably half as good (You also will lose customers that are dissatisfied by the product).

Why should a dealer screw up his reputation is if he wants to be around for the long haul?

I just don't get it!

Just some thoughts,


John Cornelius
 

STEALTH PEN

There have since been many knock-offs on these three basic designs. The following is an incomplete list of some of the currently available pens in each of the three categories:

Style 1: Original Pen Through Anything. (These are the pens that require a switch).

John Cornelius Pen Through Anything. The original. The pen is a well made, metal executive "Cross"-style, thin pen. Well made. $25
Electrofun: Sam Dalal (of India) manufactures several inexpensive knock-offs of this style. The pens are flashy looking and not quite "normal" looking. $15-20
Magic Max Laser Pen. Grey PaperMate Flexgrip style pen. $30
Penguin Magic Pen Through Dollar. Pen is a grey PaperMate Flexgrip Pen in style of Magic Max Laser Pen. $30
Ronjo: Pen Through Everything/Pen-A-Trating: Large Black fountain pen style w/pocket clip. $30
The Sharpie We Use (not sure of manufacturer). Pen is a Sharpie marker as used by many magicians. $30

Also Sharpie Thru Bill by JB Magic and SR-71 Blackbird (aka Sharpie Thru Bill) by Penguin Magic.
 

Style 2: Perfect Pen. (These don't require a switch, and do not require a sleight).

John Cornelius Perfect Pen. This is the original and the best. It is suggested that the pen not be handed out for "examination", but for common use. The gimmick will not be discovered. $50
Magic Makers The Pen (also seen as "Deluxe Pen" and "Ultimate Pen". This is a knock-off version of the Perfect Pen. The quality is not on par with The Perfect Pen. Get the original. About $25

Style 3: Wonder Pen-A-Tration: (These don't require a switch, and require only a simple sleight to allow the pen to be fully examined. Not all of these can be used for the Double-X or Electronic Rating Pen effect).

Doug Edwards Wonder Pen-A-Tration. This is a Bic-style ballpoint pen. Highly rated. $30
Perfect PENatration/Penetration Pen/Write Thru Pen (not sure of manufacturer). This looks like the Wonder Pen. $20
Empire Magic Pen Penetration. An inexpensive version of the Wonder Pen. The pen is a slightly thicker, black roller ball pen. I've heard mixed reviews. $12
Penguin Magic Stealth Pen. In the Wonder-Pen style. $15
Richard Raven Voodoo Pen. Pen looks like Empire's pen. Comes with a video by Richard Raven. $28

ALSO, many people ask about the origins of John Cornelius' original Pen Through Anything, often suggesting he got the idea from Tenyo's Wandering Hole (1979).

Here is the story direct from John himself:

"The Tenyo Wandering Hole was a piece of plastic with a moveable hole. Sure it included a pen with magnets but I doubt you could do the pen through anything with that pen. If you could, Tenyo had about ten years to put the trick out.

The inspiration for the pen through anything came from John Kennedy's cigarette through coin.

Before I marketed the pen through anything I asked John Kennedy if this would bother him. He told me it would not bother him at all, because it was two different effects using two different objects."
 

For a much more detailed look at the lineage of Magic Tricks, Moves, and Illusions go to THE MAGIC LINEAGE PROJECT by Chris Wasshuber. (Special thanks to the Magic Lineage Project for so much great information).

Another great resource you can use to locate the inventors of many magic tricks is MagicTricks.com. We are grateful for the immense research they have done in preserving the history of our art, and many of the names listed below come from their site: http://www.magictricks.com/library/invented.htm

Toru Suzuki (1994)

Theo Bamberg (1909)

Walter Gibson

Logan Wait

Paul Curry

Edward Bagshaw (1930)

L. Krug

Shigeru Sugawara (1977)

Harry Houdini

U.F. Grant

Robert Stull

U.F. Grant

Burling Hull (1909)

Jack Gwynne

U.F. Grant

Hideo Kato (1979)

Stanley Payne

Harry Houdini

Steve Brooks/Steve Landavazo

Robert Hummer

Plot published in 'Card Magic of Brother John Hamman' (1958) Released as a trick by Peter Kane (1962)

Doug Edwards

Steve Dusheck

Theodore DeLand

Hiroshi Kondo (1981)

Robert Harbin

Frank Klein

Joe Karson (1943)

Atsushi Fukano (1994)

ZONE ZERO

Jerry Andrus