8 Questions Murphy's Magic Never Answered
After Murphy's asked to comment on a recent public allegation of product theft by Bond Lee. I sent them eight questions about piracy and copy-cat products and waited and waited and waited...
I enjoy writing about the magic product industry, but boy is it difficult. If I’m writing a story about a particular product, business or creator, I’ll usually email them to let them know and check if they want to add commentary. Some do. Some don’t. Some send me on this weird will they or won’t they waiting game.
I get that there are a lot of moving parts involved, such as people, and sometimes lawyers. I know this for sure, actually. Two stories I’ve published have involved lawyers behind the scenes. My approach so far has been to try to be as fair as possible. But after a while, you begin to wonder if ‘trying to be fair´ is fair enough.
So, instead — when I’m telling these stories, I try to just tell you what happened. I’m pitching for a happy medium between Hunter Harris´s Hung Up Substack and Casey Newton´s Platformer, but for magic.
Part 1. Bond’s Public Allegation
On November 30th, 16 days ago, Bond Lee shared an allegation of theft. The post, shared on his Instagram to 2,600+ followers, had consisted of two images — one of WAKEN by Bond Lee, Hawin, & MS Magic and another screenshot of The Haunted Deck PRO by Yim & Carpenter Wong with the word ‘COPY’ added over it.
His post reads as follows:
It’s sad to see when your work is stolen by a thief. After watching the principle of that trick, I realized the method, the effect, and even the presentation is the same.
Our Waken basic principle was first invented by my good friend Hawin years ago. I joined him on this project in 2020, starting to work on a prototype. We sent samples and made a deal with Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc., in mid 2021.
Due to COVID, it took us a whole year to finalize the prototype and start the mass production. It was finally released in June of 2022.
Although Waken might not be the perfect prop, it’s our blood and sweat. I am sad to see this situation and powerless to stop this copy.
I am also very surprise to see this copy appears on Murphy’s Magic.
Sorry Hawin, I failed you.
Please do not support this copy.
This setback will not stop us; we will continue to develop more and better magic props for all magic lovers out there. Thank you for all of your support, please share this post if you share the same belief as ours.
There are some notable replies in the Instagram comments section.
The Magic Apple, a Los Angeles independent magic shop, writes:
“It's unfortunate how much this happens with Murphy’s Magic, and I hope they make it right this time.”
