Remember the patent infringement lawsuit that Yigal Mesika filed against Sean Bogunia and Mr. Bogunia's company Ultimate Magic regarding Mr. Mesika's unique device incorporated in his Spider Pen? Mr. Mesika announces that the suit has now settled, via an announcement in the Magic Cafe forums.
Says Mr. Mesika in part,
I am happy to report that under the terms of the settlement agreement, Sean Bogunia is barred from selling products which incorporate my patented design elements, unless he either: 1.) removes my design elements from the current configuration of his iThread, Deck TR, and iThreadX products, so that they do not infringe; or 2.) pays me an agreed upon royalty payment for each such use and acknowledges that any such products incorporate Yigal Mesika Magic technology in the sales literature and/or trade dress of any such products.
So what do patent attorneys say about the significance of this suit and its settlement? Philip Brooks, who writes the Patent Infringement Updates blog, has posted a commentary here. He says in part,
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.
...
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.
Comments