Legal issues in making a website that teaches magic for beginners for free?

[norsul]

I am making a website that teaches magic for beginners. The aim of the website is not to reveal tricks for laymen, but to help beginners get started with magic by learning some basic terms, sleights and of course tricks, perhaps even get them so interested that they would go to sites like ellusionist and theory11 and purchase tricks off of their sites thus bringing more money to the magic industry. The site would contain information about tricks with cards, coins and other little objects such as matches and rubber bands. The tricks would not be any kind of new releases, but classics by people like Dai Vernon or Larry Jennings. I will probably put a little advertising on the site just to pay for the cost of maintaining it.

But now that the site is nearing its completion, I realised that there might be a legal issue associated with this. So what I would like to know is that can you copyright a trick? Can I get into trouble by making such a website? Of course, if the creator of a trick that I've published on my website would ask me to remove it I would do so, but can there be other problems? I really need to know, because if it's illegal, then I won't waste my time on it.

[Kanped]

If you're willing to remove any trick that someone claims to own, you'll never run ito any issues.  The very first action anyone will take is a 'cease and desist' notice, which is basically a letter from a lawyer asking you to remove it.  If you do; no harm, no foul, no further action.  Copyrighting a trick in itself is very difficult and as long as you don't put up the exact wording available in someone else's work (i.e. don't plagarise the written material) then I'm pretty sure you're safe, legally.

[norsul]

Thank you very much, it was really important for me to know that.