In North America can someone copyright the performance of a magic trick?

Question:

In North America can someone copyright the performance of a magic trick?

If I am doing a magic show and I can recreate a trick that has been done on TV (say by Chris Angle, David Blane, or who ever) can I be sued? If I figured it out on my own (without help from anyone involved with another magician), created the props, moves, etc. myself (again without help from anyone involved in the original production of the trick) can I be sued?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: copyright requires a fixed form, so it does not apply to performance. a process can be patented, so you could research that angle. it is most likely it falls under the "trade secret" laws. if you can develop a process without knowing anything about how the others did it then you should be ok. however if a helper of one of the other magicians gave you a clue, then that violates commercial secrecy laws. a good example is Kodachrome process, no one has ever figured it out except from info provided by former Kodak employees, so Kodak can stop all competitors from developing Kodachrome film.