After more than year of pandemic-impose separation , Ben and Kirk reunite to cover COVID-19 IP waivers, the recent anti-trust ruling against the NCAA by the US Supreme Court, and, of course, Star Wars and Star Trek.

S04E06 - In Real Life!

Kirk and Ben get into the details of a case that is being described in the press as the next Google v. Oracle, and discuss how various copyright doctrines interact in unusual ways with source code.  This episode also features a special guest appearance by an interloping helicopter.

Image Attribution: "Python Source Code" by joncutrer is marked under CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/cc0/1.0/

S04E08 - IP in Programming Languages (and the Next Google v. Oracle?)

Happy Public Domain Day 2022!  Kirk and Ben talk about major works entering the public domain this year and discuss copyright term and whether it's begun to cost us some of the very works it was meant to foster and protect.

S05E01 - Happy Public Domain Day 2022!

In this short bit that didn't make the episode, Ben and Kirk discuss David Lynch's 1984 adaptation of Dune, and why Herbert's empire-spanning novel is so difficult to adapt for cinema.

S05E02 - Bonus Materials -  Dune (1984) Is Weird

An educational, non-commercial, transformative podcast episode about "Weird" Al Yankovic parodies and 2 Live Crew at the Supreme Court in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose, the seminal fair use decision involving parodies.

S05E07 - Parody Songs: "Weird" Al Yankovic and 2 Live Crew's "Pretty Woman"

We tried not to talk about Star Wars.  We really did.  But now that we both have Disney+ subscriptions, there's just too much Star Wars to talk about it.  Ben and Kirk react to the recently dropped Andor and Mandalorian S03 trailers and run through the lengthy slate of upcoming Star Wars content as published by IGN here: https://www.ign.com/articles/upcoming-new-star-wars-movies-2022-tv-shows-release-dates

S05E08 - The Star Wars Fall Holiday Special

Links and References:
https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2023/

LGG: In Camera:
The URL for the new feed is not set up yet, we'll update this once it's ready.

Season 06

S06E01 - Public Domain Day 2023

A long-running LGG inside joke was recently killed by the Supreme Court.  Why can't we have fun things?  Check out our prior episode about this case:

https://soundcloud.com/user-329223368/s05e06-long-live-the-warhol-rule

S06E02 - The Warhol Rule is Dead

Ben and Kirk are back after a long hiatus to go over the new works entering the public domain in 2024, not least of which is Steamboat Willie, the original public debut of Mickey Mouse.

S06E03 - Public Domain Day 2024

In the first "In Camera" episode, Ben and Kirk discuss last year's hit zombie series, The Last of Us, on HBO.

Image: Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in The Last of Us (2023), IMDB.COM.

S06E04 - (In Camera) The Last of Us

Ben and Kirk at least tackle the ever-present subject of AI, and discuss some of the legal and practical issues.  The cover art for this episode was generated by DALL-E after many, many, many failed attempts to produce a lawyer-Terminator.

S06E05 - AI

At long last, Ben and Kirk dive into the open gaming license and the kerfuffle surrounding it.

Image Credit: "Dungeons & Dragons dice 2" by lydia_shiningbrightly is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

S06E07 - The Open Gaming License Kerfuffle

Ben and Kirk go over their annual tradition of covering the new works entering the public domain this year.

S07E02 - Public Domain Day 2025

Ben and Kirk break down some Star Wars content, mainly The Acolyte and season 1 of Andor.  Originally recorded in Feb. of 2025.

S07E03 - Star Wars Holiday Special (orig. rec. Feb. 2025)

Ben and Kirk dive into different television content distribution models - binge watching vs. episodic.  Why does it feel like some Disney+ shows mirror the narrative structure of syndicated television, but others are serialized?

S07E04 - Streaming and Fan Communities

We talk about the recently-filed lawsuit against Midjourney by Disney and others alleging infringement of the copyright to iconic characters.

S07E05 - Character Copyright and the Disney + Universal Lawsuit vs. Midjourney

We go over the summary judgment rulings in the recent lawsuits against Anthropic and Meta for their LLMs, and then we zoom out and consider whether AI is the technology that will finally unravel copyright in a way that requires a complete institutional rethinking.

S07E07 - Will AI Finally Kill Copyright?

Ben and Kirk dive into Skeleton Crew and two anthology series and provide their thoughts on why so much of the new Star Wars content is struggling to recapture the greatness of the original trilogy.

S07E08 - Star Wars Reviews - Skeleton Crew and Anthologies

Ben and Kirk analyze the memes resulting from the famous "Coldplayed" incident and the impact on privacy.

S07E09 - Coldplayed

Ben and Kirk go over the short but interesting dispute between the original Dragonlance authors and Wizards of the Coast at the height of COVID over the final trilogy of novels.

S07E10 - The Great Dragonlance Dispute of 2020

Ben and Kirk do some theorycrafting in the IP of cosplay - what if you invented your own original character, prop, or vehicle/ship set in an existing universe?

S07E11 - Custom Lightsabers and Original Cosplay

Ben and Kirk talk about how spoof movies have changed over the years, and how the IP issues have changed with it.

S07E12 - Spoof Movies

Ben and Kirk tackle the new Nintendo patent on summoning in Pokemon.

S07E13 - Nintendo's Pokemon Patents

By popular demand, Kirk and Ben revisit the "Pokemon Patent" and talk about the challenges in finding relevant prior art.

S07E14 - Nintendo's Pokemon Patents - Part 2

Ben and Kirk dig into what made Stranger Things a cultural phenomenon and consider whether the 1980s might be the perfect decade for this kind of storytelling.

S07E15 - Stranger Things

The Director of the USPTO has instituted a re-examination of the Nintendo Pokemon patents.  But what does that mean?

S07E16 - The NintendoPokemon Patents - Part 3 (Ex Parte Reexamination)

What are the rules for making unofficial products based on something someone else has created?

PHOTO ATTRIBUTION
"The Village in Minecraft" by post-apocalyptic research institute is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

S01E04 - Minecraft is an Elaborate Pixel Editor

IP issues abound in file sharing technologies, which have legitimate uses that are often overlooked in the face of consumer infringement.  We go through some prior solutions to the problem of consumer piracy - legal, technological, and practical - and talk about why computer-based piracy is different and presents unique challenges.

S01E15 - File Sharing and BitTorrent

In this episode, Ben and Kirk discuss a unique interaction between geek culture and the law involving the practice of prisons prohibiting inmates from playing roleplaying games.  The episode discusses how the law's recognition of the penalogical interests of prisons allows prisons to ban roleplaying games without offending First Amendment principles.

"In prison, those things withheld from and denied to the prisoner become precisely what he wants most of all. Eldridge Cleaver" by katerha is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

S02E15 - Why They Ban Role Playing Games from Prisons

In this second-to-last of the edamame episodes, Kirk and Ben freewheel about the Baby Yoda phenomenon and the legal implications of the unlicensed products that initially flooded the market, and also discuss knock-offs that blend other IP.

"Hard Rock Cafe Guitar in Black & White" by Javcon117* is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

S03E22 - Baby Yoda and the Hard Rock Cafe

Celebrating Public Domain Day 2021, Ben and Kirk go over some classic literature that is now in the public mean, and just what exactly that means (and doesn't mean).  They also discuss the curious copyright status of one of history's most odious literary works, and end with a discussion of some recent personnel changes in the federal government,

PHOTO ATTRIBUTION
"happy public domain" by Laurel L. Russwurm is marked under CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/cc0/1.0/

S04E02 - Happy Public Domain Day 2021!

A podcast about geek culture..by lawyers. 

Can I patent a time machine? Who owns the copyright to the Klingon language? Can I sell my original story set in the Star Wars universe? We are here to discuss the many weird and interesting ways that geek culture collides with the law. @LGGpod

A Lawyer's Guide to the Galaxy Podcast

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