A Lawyer's Guide to the Galaxy Podcast

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

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

In our season debut, we tackle trivia nights! Learn about all the weird IP issues that come up at your local bar trivia.

Kirk and Bed go over the 9th Circuit's holding in the dispute between a choreographer and Epic games over the use of popular dance moves as purchasable "emotes" in Fortnite. Other episodes referenced in this episode: Stairway to Heaven Episode: https://soundcloud.com/user-329223368/season-3-ep-11-the-edamame-episodes-part-3?si=316efde700464719ad52942ea937aae1&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing Google v. Oracle Episode:https://soundcloud.com/user-329223368/s04e05-google-v-oracle?si=e1ec05aa97994891a35debd892f44835&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Ben and Kirk dissect the final season of The Bad Batch. What went right, what went wrong, and where is the future of Star Wars content going? Bad Batch logo courtesy of Disney Plus (https://press.disneyplus.com/media-kits/the-bad-batch).

Ben and Kirk discuss what the Supreme Court's recent ruling really means. Could you now get in trouble for that time in 1998 whenyou posted the lyrics to a LeAnn Rimes on your Angelfire page?

Ben and Kirk discuss the tangled history of IP licenses to the Dungeons and Dragons brand, and the litigation required to sort through them before the recent film could be made. And, of course, they can't help but talk about the movie. Other related materials: * S06E07 - The Open Gaming License (https://soundcloud.com/user-329223368/s06e07-the-open-gaming-license-kerfuffle) * S04E07 - The TSR Trademark War (https://soundcloud.com/user-329223368/season-4-episode-7) * S02E05 - Why They Ban RPGs from Prisons (https://soundcloud.com/user-329223368/geek-culture-the-law)

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.

Kirk and Ben review the second season of the "Visions" series of Star Wars-themed anime shorts on Disney+.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Kirk and Ben discuss the ins and outs of the latest copyright case to make its way to the Supreme Court. Could this be the end of the Warhol Rule? You can look at the 2nd Circuit opinion here: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca2/19-2420/19-2420-2021-03-26.html

Ben and Kirk go over their predictions for Kenobi, and require your help to break a veritable tie.

A short scheduling update.

In this edamame episode, Kirk and Ben break from the usual format to talk about their favorite science fiction and fantasy books, ranging from classics to newer works by Ken Liu and Liu Cixin.

Ben and Kirk provide some predictions (of various levels of seriousness) for the upcoming Disney+ series Kenobi.

Ben provides a short update on our recently unproductive production schedule.

A DMCA reform act was introduced to Congress last week, and we plan to talk about it soon. To refresh you on some of the issues, we are running this Rewind episode, originally released Jan. 22, 2018, in which we talk about the legal issues around hosting third party works.

Ben and Kirk dive into some of the tangled legal issues with video game streaming and how pragmatic considerations sometimes become the ultimate mediator of how people use the IP of others.

In this rewind episode, original aired Aug. 11, 2017, Ben and Kirk discuss IP issues related to the things players create in Minecraft.

In his first edamame episode in some time, Kirk answers a listener's question about his unusual collection of unusual collectables, including some rare 1980s-era Transformer toys of uncertain origin.

In this rewind episode, originally released May 14, 2018, Ben and Kirk discuss the "Monkey Selfie" lawsuit and the potential implications for authorship by AI creators. We also provide our predictions for the then-upcoming Han Solo movie.

Your hosts break down the seven-episode Disney+ series, The Book of Boba Fett. "Boba Fett Square Cut" by Jens Rost is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse&atype=rich

In this rewind episode of S01E26, which originally aired June 2, 2018, Kirk and Ben discuss the origins of intellectual property institutions and what happens when they don't fit in neatly with non-western cultures.

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.

Kirk and Ben explore the intersection between NFTs and intellectual law in response to issues raised by the recent purchase of a copy of Jadorowsky's Dune bible, and discuss what exactly an NFT is and why they are perceived to have commercial value.

This is rewind episode of S02E12, originally released in June of 2019. Ben and Kirk begin with a brief discussion of the then-very-recent Stanley Cup championship won by the St. Louis Blues, and then proceed to break down various lawsuits over the years involving a favorite topic: Star Wars.

In a break from our usual subject matter, Ben takes a minute to talk about the greatest legal movie ever made, and what makes it so good. If you've listened to us before, this take probably won't surprise you.

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.

In this short review episode, Ben provides some general thoughts on the new entry in the Ghostbusters franchise, Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

For their 2021 Holiday Special, Ben and Kirk dive into some anime content and discuss the nine Star Wars: Visions short films released on Disney+ this year, followed by closing thoughts on The Bad Batch season 1.

Ben provides his thoughts on the 2021 Dune film.

After a long fall break, Ben provides an update on the show and we belatedly publish Kirk's Halloween episode (in December).

In one of the stranger twists and turns we've seen recently in copyright law, somebody registered a copyright to their Magic: the Gathering deck. Kirk and Ben dive into what exactly that means for the future of CCG tournaments.

Ben provides a brief update on the Roblox music lawsuit, which recently settled.

Kirk provides a overview/review of The Mysterious Benedict Society, a curious show we briefly mentioned on a prior episode.

Kirk and Ben go over the complaint and affirmative defenses in the Roblox music lawsuit, with the usual assortment of digressions along the way. Image Attribution: "Carnaby Records (Liège)" by Marc Wathieu is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

In the last of our set of four edamame episodes about television, Kirk discusses his reaction to Disney's Cruella live-action take on the villainess from 101 Dalmations.

In this edamame episode, Kirk provides a review of the Star Wars: Rebels television series. Image Credit: "[135/365] The Rebel Yell" by pasukaru76 is marked under CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/cc0/1.0/

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/

Since Ben hasn't seen it yet, Kirk flies solo in this episode, providing his thoughts on the first season of The Bad Batch.

In this rewind episode, Ben and Kirk discuss intellectual property issues related to planned languages.

In this edamame episode, Kirk discusses the various ways that popular depictions of intellectual property get our day jobs right ... and more often, wrong. SPOILER ALERT! Kirk gets into some discussion of the Season 3 of Roswell.

Ben provides a brief update on the podcast schedule for the rest of 2021.

A short PSA announcing our new and improved web site, http://www.lggpodcast.com/. PHOTO ATTRIBUTION: "the world wide web" by frankieleon is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

We break down the recent drama over who owns the revived TSR trademarks and associated registrations, including a side quest through who owns the rights to Gary Gygax's name and legacy. Please see this episode posted on our website, www.lggpodcast.com, for the show notes. The show URL is: https://lggpodcast.com/?p=268