AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO PROSPECTIVE PURCHASERS

OF BLANEY'S ILLUSIONS 

 

 

  By Walter Zaney Blaney

President Emeritus

World Alliance of Magicians (WAM) 

 

 

In the worldwide magic community there are relatively few magicians who are the creators and inventors of new tricks and illusions. The vast majority of magicians encourage and understand the need for the protection of the proprietary-rights of these creators. One of the newest and best protections is the "United States Trade Secrets Act of 1996". Many large corporations use this new law to protect their "trade secrets" today more than with patent and copyright laws. For this protection a company must be able to show that it has done everything it can to keep its "trade secret" a secret.

For this reason I, and a growing number of magic inventors, require that purchasers of their proprietary illusions sign a simple license agreement.

My license agreement states that the purchaser has rights to perform my trick or illusion anywhere, on stage, on television, etc. But he or she understands that the "trade secret" still belongs to me. The secret is not to be divulged to anyone else, except on a "need to know" basis, such as to one's assistants.

Should the prop ever be proposed for sale in the future, permission must be gotten from me. Permission is readily granted once we both know the new purchaser is a bonafide magician, one who is also willing to sign my license agreement.

This document helps to protect the purchaser's investment. It also helps protect me and my trade-secret from those who might wish to expose my secret for profit, or from those few unscrupulous magic builders and dealers who pirate and market cheap rip-off copies of the hard work of the inventors. I am happy to say all of my many customers have willingly signed my license agreement. And they feel good about this added protection of their investment. Among them are:

 

 David Copperfield

 Lance Burton

 Siegfried & Roy

 Rick Thomas

 Steve Wyrick

 Blackstone Jr.

 Harry Anderson

 Sylvan

 Luis deMatos

 Paul Daniels

 Abb Dickson

 Paul Gertner

 David Hamner

 Peter Reveen

 Mike Super

 David Sandy

 John Hirokawa

 Tad Ware

 Dr. Robert Albo

 Rick Wilcox

 Detlef Simon

 Keith West

 James Cielen

 Scott Wells

 Ken Hartley

 Tamaka