My son is in Marching Band and the director said he wanted to include "a trick he saw" in next years show. I though he was asking for a Zig-zag, but it turns out the trick he was speaking of was Daniel Summers' "The Cutting Edge". So I had to explain to him that, even though I could build a similar trick, it would cost thousands of dollars to do that trick. Not just for the props, but for the performance rights.

Since he's a band director, he's very familiar with performance rights. In band competitions, they have to provide proof of performance rights for each song they perform.

The problem now is, he now wants to be able to show that we have performance rights to any effect we perform.

It's easy to claim that things like a sub-trunk, thin sawing, or a cabinet are traditional. Most laymen have seen these enough to accept that they are. But how do I prove that they are?

In the end, I need to assure him that, down the road, no one is going to come knocking for a fee because they saw a youtube video of the band doing a trick.


Is there a list of effects that are considered public domain?


Thanks for your thoughts and help!

Kevin


Bostaff illusion

Find me where it legally states that you must have performance rights to perform a trick you purchased. As soon as you pay for a trick you have legal rights to perform it.

This is interesting. I would like to know how this all hashes out

I found http://www.illusionrepository.com/ and it has a list of illusions that are in the public domain. If it's not PD, it sometimes tells how rights can be acquired.

You can buy the plans for most traditional illusions through Paul Osborne.

Ask the guy (Summers)