Jim Steinmeyer (one of the creators mentioned in the paper) and I have gone on the record here disputing this paper's claims.: http://itricks.com/news/?p=2061

This is bunk. As a professional magic creator and consultant I can assure you that we do not do a very good job of policing ourselves. Several famous magicians are notorious for stealing whole routines from less well known magicians and there is no punishment for that. Several magic creators have been driven out of the business because people kept stealing from them. This claim is just absurd.