IP Goes Pop!

From Animal House to The Social Network, college has always been one of pop culture’s favorite backdrops. While colleges are often depicted in movies and TV as institutions of endless partying, behind the scenes, colleges are also carefully managed intellectual property machines. Colleges and universities operate as brand owners, managing and protecting valuable intellectual property assets across athletics, merchandise, and media.

After covering IP “firsts” in Episode 1 of Season 7, co-hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue turn to the other side of the timeline: what it really means to be the “last” in the pop culture and IP worlds. In pop culture, “last” often just means “for now.” In intellectual property law, it means something much more concrete.

“If you’re not first, you’re last!” This week on IP Goes Pop!®, co-hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue chase down “IP firsts” and explain why these origin stories still matter to creators, brands, and inventors today.

The episode opens with our hosts’ personal firsts (early movie-theater memories, ticket-counter hijinks). The discussion then shifts to media milestones. Michael and Joe start by highlighting the first televised commercial during a live sports broadcast, decades before the modern era of Super Bowl commercials and “skip ad” buttons. From there, the hosts trace more “TV firsts”. These include the first laugh track, heard in The Hank McCune Show, and the first prime-time animated series, The Flintstones.

What happens when one of the most legendary hip-hop collectives of all time turns its art into a first-of-its-kind legal case? In this episode of IP Goes Pop!, hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue enter into the legal and ongoing cultural journey behind Wu-Tang Clan’s infamous one-of-a-kind album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. What began as a creative experiment in artistic exclusivity could become a landmark case in modern intellectual property (IP) law that could alter how musical recordings can be protected.

Swing into the world of intellectual property and untangle the legal threads behind legendary wall-crawling comic book character, Spider-Man. From comic book origins to blockbuster films, hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue trace Spidey’s journey through pop culture, the U.S. Patent Office, and the courtroom.

Filing for a copyright application doesn’t have to be an overly complex chore. You just need the right tools for the job.

In this fun and informative episode, hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue welcome Jessica Chinnadurai, Attorney Advisor from the U.S. Copyright Office, to introduce the Copyright Office’s Copyright Registration Toolkit.