One of the things that really bugs me are magicians that complain about people stealing their tricks or ideas when they don’t take the most basic steps to protect them.
There are basic ways to protect your ideas, for example my school assembly show is called Incredible Idioms®. I really like the title and would be bummed if someone took the title, so awhile ago I filed the trademark for it. Last week that trademark was approved!
Filing a trademark is super easy to do and not that expensive. It’s around $250 to do it and you can do it yourself, the USPTO.gov website has tons of tutorials as to what you can and can’t trademark as well as how to do it.
Another good resource is Sara Crasson’s book Own Your Magic A Magicians Guide to Protecting Your Intellectual Property, which covers patents, trademarks, and copyrights. I highly recommend this book!
-Louie