Diddly Rounders

I think we need a new Judge Jerxy post regarding the Yigal Mesika vs Penguin Magic dispute. After watching his recent video, it doesn’t look good for Penguin imo. What say the judge? —RC

Well, to start, I don’t think it was called Judge Jerxy. I think it was called, Here Come the Jerx.

That important distinction made, I just don't have it in my heart to take a deep dive on this because Yigal brings up multiple issues, not just one.

Yigal presents his case well, but after reading Josh Burch's reply on behalf of Penguin in this thread, not all of Yigal's criticisms really land. You can read that to get the other side and decide for yourself.

I think part of the issue Yigal faces is that some of his complaints seem legitimate, but others seem so fucking stupid that it's easy to dismiss him as ridiculous or greedy or something like that.

I'm going to help Yigal out and point out how his claims resonate to an outsider.

Complaints About Spider Pen and Tarantula Knock-offs

These issues feel totally legitimate. I don't have a ton of knowledge in this field, but I don't know anyone who suggests Yigal didn't make a serious contribution to the technology behind devices like these.

Getting ripped off by other creators, or knocked off by Chinese manufacturers after all the money that went into developing these things, would drive me nuts too.

A-tier complaint.

Complaints About Having the Methodology Used in Your Loops Tricks Stolen

Again, this is valid. Yigal popularized a lot of these ideas, and I have no reason to believe he didn't create the methodologies too. Unfortunately, there are only so many ways to yank around stuff on a small loop of thread, so it doesn't necessarily feel like someone's getting their intellectual property ripped off. It can often feel like someone is just demonstrating the most obvious way of using a loop of thread to produce a given effect.

Yigal may rightfully feel like he invented that approach, but others see the technique for floating a dollar and think, “Well, how the hell else would you do it?”

A valid complaint, but hard to rally people around.

B-tier complaint.

Complaints About People Ripping Off Loops as a Product

Finn Jon invented Loops in the mid-80s and sold Yigal Mesika the exclusive rights a decade later.

Now... look, we all owe Finn Jon a debt of gratitude.

Buuuuuut...

Invisible elastic thread already existed and was used in magic.

Tying thread into loops was already used in magic.

If Finn Jon had died in a wakeboarding accident in the 60s, I am supremely confident someone else would have cracked that nut by the time the 80s rolled around and we had higher quality IET that made something like Loops feasible.

I'm not suggesting Finn Jon doesn't deserve credit. I'm just explaining why even people like me, who are big supporters of intellectual property, don't see a huge issue with people releasing their own IET bands.

It's sort of like claiming to "own" the idea of roughing half of the back of a card rather than the full thing for easy separating.

Yes, that was an advancement, and it's great if we can credit and acknowledge the person who came up with that idea. But I don't know if it's an idea someone can own.

And in the case of Loops, we're not even talking about the originator anymore. We're talking about one person removed from the originator claiming people shouldn't be copying the idea.

Now, to be clear, I don't even know if Yigal claims people can't produce their own invisible elastic bands. But that's the understanding a lot of people have, and that colors their perception of his other complaints.

While I always want to support the originators, I can honestly say that I'm not super concerned about buying from the guy who bought the idea from someone else.

Do you have the strongest invisible elastic bands?

Do you have the most imperceptible invisible elastic bands?

Do you have the most stretchable invisible elastic bands?

These are the factors that most people are going to weigh and that are going to guide most people's buying decisions. I would rather time and money be spent optimizing these things than chasing down lawsuits.

C-tier complaint.

(I tested Penguin's TIES vs. Yigal's Loops in these categories a few years ago. You can see that testing here.)

Complaints About People Using the Word "Loops" When They're Not Using Actual Yigal Mesika Loops®

Sorry, Yigal, but this is an issue you brought on yourself when you named your product the thing that it is. You tied some thread in a loop and called it a Loop. If you had called it a Diddly Rounder, then I'd be sympathetic. I would fully support you saying, "Hey, don't call your loop of thread a Diddly Rounder. That's trademark infringement! Call it something generic, like a 'loop' or something."

Can you give a single other example in the history of the world where someone owns a trademark on the shortest, most generic description of the item itself? You can't. Because the notion is idiotic.

You've scared people into thinking they can't even use the word "loop" in the ordinary, descriptive sense when teaching an effect with invisible elastic bands. But they certainly can. See: Classic (Descriptive) Fair Use under 15 U.S.C. § 1115(b)(4). Sorry if I'm blowing up your spot here.

Again, this is an issue you brought on yourself when you chose a name that was the thing that it is. If you had just chosen Diddly Rounders instead! Here, I'll give you the name Diddly Rounders for free. Go register it tomorrow, and we can all finally fucking move on with our lives regarding the Loops®/loops/Diddly Rounders situation.

F-tier complaint.

Refer to this chart for easy reference…