Thievery in magic is nothing new. Hell, in the world it's pretty commonplace no matter what practice you engage in. I have encountered my fair share of sticky fingered fuckery and it's always amusing to hear the justification for such behavior.
Sometimes it's a legit case of independent creation. However, in the this digital age, it's pretty easy to debunk certain claims or at least cast a dubious light upon their statements.
When someone who has created something with or without the inspiration of someone else's hard work you tend to encounter two reactions to being told they have re-invented the wheel:
- "I am so sorry. I had no idea. I will remove it/take it down/etc. How can I make this right?"
Or... - "Wellllllllll......"
Obviously, the first response is the favored one but it seems to be the more rare of the two. Have you ever heard someone joke about a magician saying "You use a red deck while I use a blue so they are totally different". Well, that is more than a jape my friends. The moment someone gets defensive, they move from "independent creator" to thief and should be treated as such.
If you are a creator who has been taken from does this little ditty sound familiar?
"I have had things stolen too so I know how you feel"
It's almost as if they think this gives them license to steal from others because of some sort of "dicked over club" you are all part of now. In a sane world, that statement would mean they know how much it sucks and don't want to do it to someone else, but when used as a battle tactic their deception becomes transparent.
What's worse is companies like Murphy's Magic have made it easy for a knock off effect to spread like wildfire before anything can be done about it.
Did you know most of the online magic shops have their stores tied directly to Murphy's database and when something new gets uploaded to the site it gets pushed out to ALL of these online shops instantly? Most of those online shops have NO idea what is listed on their site. You have to go to the source to get the infection removed and by the time they decide to contact you back (Anubis forbid it's a weekend) 100s of people have probably bought the stolen effect and is well on it's way to being exposed on youtube.
You see, you always give up something for convenience, and in this case it seems to be a bit of artistic integrity.
So what do you do when someone shows you their ass? That's kind of up to you. Naming and shaming is time and soul sucking. Ignoring it to prevent the "Streisand Effect" can work but that means the offending idea is in the wild. You can threaten bodily harm or litigation but that can come back to bite you in the ass. I sadly don't have an answer. Sometimes you can shut it down before too much is done, provided you have the right amount of evidence in your favor but even then the damage could already be done.
At the end of the day, it sucks no matter which way you slice it. Hopefully these words of "wisdom" have prepared you to be a little less taken aback if someone 5 finger discounts your work.It helps to know the warning signs and know you are not alone.
And if you have to punch someone in the face to feel better so be it.
