From an April 2, 2010 press release:
After months of heated litigation, Yigal Mesika has settled his patent lawsuit with Sean Bogunia and Sean Bogunia’s Ultimate Magic at the Federal District Court in Los Angeles. In the history of magic, Yigal Mesika v. Sean Bogunia et al., CV09-1580 JFW (C.D. Cal. 2009) stands as a significant milestone in that it is the first case to ever prevent imitation of a magician’s device for performing tricks.
The patent at the center of the controversy covers magician Yigal Mesika’s uniquely designed cap and spooling device (U.S. Patent No. 7,311,609) incorporated into his Spider Pen product. The design was a significant improvement of similar designs used by magicians in the past for creating the illusion of levitating objects. Mesika claimed that Sean Bogunia, who had been a publicly enthusiastic supporter of the device, incorporated Mesika’s patented design into his new iThread, Deck TR, and iThread X products without Mesika’s knowledge or consent.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Sean Bogunia will no longer create his iThread, Deck TR, and iThreadX products in their current configuration. Bogunia also agreed that for future sales of products that use Mesika’s design, if any, he will pay Yigal Mesika an agreed upon royalty payment for each such use and acknowledge on the packaging for any such product that it incorporates Mesika’s patent design.
With the case now closed, Yigal Mesika is satisfied with the outcome and is relieved to put the matter behind him. In a letter thanking his fans for their support throughout the trial process, he states: “I look forward to focusing on my passions – performing magic and crafting the very finest products imaginable, in order to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in magic.”
Considering Mesika’s success in protecting his invention, magicians will certainly look upon his case in the future as a model for navigating the convoluted field of intellectual property law to protect their magic devices from patent infringement.
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