This episode of IP Goes POP! traces the development of a brand from its inception to a seminal trademark. No matter the size of a business, it is important to grow your brand and establish goodwill in your name – and for that you need a strong trademark. In this podcast episode, IP Goes Pop! co-hosts, Volpe Koenig Shareholders, and intellectual property lawyers, Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue, welcome Philadelphia’s own Pete Ciarrocchi, founder of Chickie’s & Pete’s Sports Bar and Crab House.

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American football is a sport that permeates the popular culture, but what intellectual property is involved between the end-zones? In this episode of the IP Goes Pop! podcast we explore the movies, toys, patents, and trademarks that have shaped the sport in modern times. From the technology built into the players’ helmets, to the glowing first-down line you see on television, intellectual property has a huge impact on the way we interface with football.

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What do Bambi, Mickey Mouse, and Winnie the Pooh all have in common? Besides remaining lovable pop-culture icons, these cartoon characters are all part of copyrighted works entering the public domain. In our first episode of season three, IP Goes Pop! co-hosts and Volpe Koenig Shareholders, Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue, are back for a journey into the public domain. With the help of their fellow Shareholder John O’Malley, they walk through the history of copyright term (how long copyrights last), how and when copyrighted works enter the public domain, and the way this area of law continues to evolve as famous and high-value works enter the public domain.

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This week IP Goes Pop! carries a torch for IP at the Olympics. Join co-hosts and Volpe Koenig Shareholders, Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue, for a relay through the intellectual property involved in putting on a global athletic competition that sometimes turns its top competitors into household names and “brands.” In this episode, Michael and Joe dive into the trademarked words, phrases and logos owned or controlled by the International, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees and the rights surrounding them. Learn about the planning that goes into Olympic advertising campaigns and a few that have faced challenges.

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How do comedians protect their jokes, “bit” concepts, or their delivery style? This week IP Goes Pop! goes to the comedy club to find the line between creative freedom and stolen (or borrowed) laughs. Join Volpe Koenig Shareholders and hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue as they welcome special guest, Volpe Koenig alum, and comedy fan, Aneesh Mehta, Senior Corporate Counsel for Experiences and Devices at Microsoft.  

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This week on IP Goes Pop! fellow Volpe Koenig Shareholder Ryan O’Donnell joins co-hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue to explore the technical world of the TV show Silicon Valley, the intellectual property (IP) challenges faced by fictional compression algorithm company Pied Piper, and how realistic those challenges are to those of real-world tech start-ups.

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This week on IP Goes Pop! Volpe Koenig attorney and Ph.D., Douglas Bucklin joins co-hosts and Shareholders Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue to travel back in time, and somehow also to the future, to explore intellectual property interests in the area of genetic engineering.In this episode, Michael, Joe, and Doug discuss, among other pop culture icons, the Jurassic Park movies and how the genetic engineering technology discussed in those movies relates to science and intellectual property in the real world.

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What is an NFT (Non-Fungible Token)? How are they created? Why would you collect digital files that anyone can obtain or view for free? This week on IP Goes Pop! Volpe Koenig Shareholders and co-hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue to talk about the ABCs of NFTs. Michael and Joe break down some of the technical jargon behind NFTs and the basics of blockchain as they explore the current trends and future prospects of this technology and how it could impact the pop culture and intellectual property worlds.

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Sometimes you have to ask the critical questions, like: Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie? How can you turn your holiday invention into a patent-protected idea? In our first-ever IP Goes Pop! Snow-Tacular™, co-hosts and Volpe Koenig Shareholders, Michael Snyder and Joe Gushue, unwrap the iconic pop culture movies, traditions, and intellectual property disputes around the most wonderful time of the year.

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This week on IP Goes Pop! fellow Volpe Koenig Shareholder Wesley McMichael joins Michael Snyder to talk about inventors Thomas Edison’s and Nikola Tesla’s “battle of the currents.” Michael and Wes have an electric conversation about the race to light up the country and the patents that paved the way for providing power. They explore the difference between the direct current (DC) championed, sometimes to a shocking extreme, by Edison, and alternating current (AC) advocated for by Tesla.

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This week on IP Goes Pop! fellow Volpe Koenig Shareholder Robert Leonard joins Michael Snyder to talk about artists’ rights and attempts by musicians to regain rights to their original recordings. This episode begins with a brief overview of the “bundle of rights” that copyright owners hold. From there the discussion turns to “master” recordings. Master recordings are the music recordings that serve as the basis for the marketable form of music whether that be vinyl, CDs, mp3s or streaming platforms. When musicians sign record contracts with recording studios they typically sign over the copyrights to their master recordings often without a full understanding of the value of these rights.

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What happens when someone believes a movie is based on their original idea? What sets one Zombie film apart from another? In this episode of IP Goes Pop! intellectual property attorneys and co-hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue take a trip to a Hollywood writer’s room to explore movies having similar themes and plots.

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In this spooktacular episode of IP Goes Pop! treat yourself to the intellectual property (IP) of Halloween. From the disputes surrounding the iconic Halloween mask to the similarities, and important differences, between some people’s favorite friendly ghost, Casper, and the ghost in the Ghostbusters logo, who ya gonna call but IP Goes Pop hosts, and Volpe Koenig Shareholders, Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue?

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This week on IP Goes Pop! Volpe Koenig Shareholder Michael Snyder explores what happens when real world intellectual property makes its way into the virtual (video game) world. In this episode, Michael looks at the outcomes of two separate cases involving famous major video game franchises, and how their use of real-world images ended up in court.

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This week, IP Goes Pop! makes patents fun (or at least tries)! Volpe Koenig Shareholder Randy Huis is back to explore the world of toy patents with host Michael Snyder.

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