Volpe Koenig

04/15/2026

College sports feel like tradition… but they also run on intellectual property (IP). 🎓

Logos. Mascots. Colors. Merch.
All protected. All controlled.

Join IP attorneys Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue on IP Goes Pop!® for a breakdown in how colleges use trademark, copyright, and licensing to manage assets across athletics, merchandise, and media, and how NIL fits into the picture.

Because even now, there’s a key line: student-athletes can monetize their personal brand, but universities still control their own trademarks and institutional IP.

Find this episode and more by searching IP Goes Pop! in your favorite podcast app!

Licensing

04/15/2026

What do Rudy, Blue Chips, and The Social Network have in common?

They all reflect college life on screen, but behind the scenes, colleges and universities are also carefully managed intellectual property (IP) machines.

On IP Goes Pop!®, Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue break down the business of IP in higher education, focusing on how universities use trademark law, licensing agreements, and copyright law to control their identities.

Listen for a breakdown on how schools protect logos, mascots, color schemes, slogans, and other brand assets across athletics, merchandise, and media.

They also looks at NIL rights and the important line that remains in place: student-athletes can now monetize their personal brands, but universities still control their own trademarks and institutional IP.

If you have ever bought a college t-shirt and cheered for your alma mater in school colors, this is the IP behind it all.

Find IP Goes Pop!® on your favorite podcast app or listen now on our website!

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 univ...

04/03/2026

In pop culture, “last” often just means “for now.” In intellectual property law, it means something much more concrete. In this episode of IP Goes Pop!®, Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue explore what “last” really means across film, TV, music, and IP law.

The hosts explain how rights expire, can be lost early, become generic, or change by statute. Featuring examples like Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone patent and It’s a Wonderful Life, this episode breaks down why IP rights don’t last forever, and why that matters.

In this episode:
🎬 Films like The Last Samurai, The Last of the Mohicans, and The Last Jedi (final… or not?)
📺 How Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Last of Us use “last” to build tension
⏳ The four ways IP rights end: expiration, early loss, genericide, and statutory change
📞 The expiration of Bell’s telephone patent, and what followed
🎄 How a missed renewal helped make It’s a Wonderful Life a holiday staple

Listen to IP Goes Pop!® in your favorite podcast player, or in the news room section of our site.

02/24/2026

“If you’re not first, you’re last!”

This week on IP Goes Pop!®, Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue chase down “IP firsts” — from the first televised commercial and first laugh track to the first U.S. patents signed by George Washington.

They explain how patent, trademark, and copyright systems evolved, and why those origin stories still matter today.

What will your IP protection “first” be?

12/23/2025

What color says luxury before you even open the box? What sound makes you reach for the popcorn before the movie starts?

In the latest IP Goes Pop!® podcast, hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue explore how non-traditional trademarks like color, sound, and even scent can become protectable brand assets.

Pop culture stops include Smell-O-Vision and John Waters’ Odorama cards (Polyester), plus modern storytelling twists like The Artist and Netflix’s Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.

They also break down the legal framework, including secondary meaning (Qualitex v. Jacobson), the functionality bar, and why precise descriptions matter when defining scope. ⚖️🧠

Examples discussed:
💎Tiffany’s robin’s-egg blue
👠Louboutin’s red soles
🚜John Deere’s green-and-yellow
🔊NBC’s chime
🦁MGM lion’s roar
🍞Play-Doh’s scent

Powerful trademarks are not just seen. They are felt.

You can find the episode in your favorite podcast app by searching IP Goes Pop! or visit https://www.vklaw.com/podcasts-60

hashtag hashtag hashtag hashtag

12/19/2025

11/26/2025

Counting our blessings and feeling grateful for our clients, colleagues and staff.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

11/20/2025

https://www.vklaw.com/news-2025-ipromise-grant-winner-wayne-senior-center

Congratulations to Wayne Senior Center, this year’s winner of Volpe Koenig’s Jeffrey M. Glabicki IPromise Charitable Giving Fund’s annual $40,000 grant. The award will support the Center’s technology education programs to ensure older adults stay connected to family, community and resources in a digital world.

11/03/2025

One album. One copy. One lawsuit that could change music forever.

Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin isn’t just legendary — it’s now the centerpiece of a legal fight over whether music can be protected as a trade secret.

🎧 In this new episode of IP Goes Pop!, hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue explore how secrecy became the ultimate form of value.

Would you keep an album like this secret, or let the world hear it? 👇

Find the episode by searching “IP Goes Pop!” In your favorite podcast directory or by visiting the newsroom section of vklaw.com.

11/03/2025

What happens when a hip-hop legend creates an album so exclusive it becomes a legal case study?

In 2015, Wu-Tang Clan released one copy of "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin."

The album was sold, seized, resold, and now...it’s part of a lawsuit asking whether music itself can be a trade secret under federal law.

In the latest episode of IP Goes Pop!, hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue break down how this once-in-a-lifetime album could redefine how artists protect their creations.

Wu-Tang didn’t just change hip-hop. They might have changed IP law.

🎧 Listen now: https://www.vklaw.com/podcasts-ipgp-606-wu-tang-clan-album-could-rewrite-music-law

Would you have kept it secret, or shared it with the world?
..

You can find this episode by searching IP Goes Pop!, on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you find your other podcasts!

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 albu...

09/23/2025

🕸️ With great power comes great responsibility… and sometimes, great patent disputes.

In our latest IP Goes Pop! episode, we swing through Spider-Man’s history — from comics to cinema — and explore the IP lessons behind the wall-crawler’s legacy.

⚡ What you’ll hear:

👉Why “Spider-Man” has a hyphen

👉How a toy web-shooter sparked a Supreme Court battle

👉What licensors & entrepreneurs can learn about royalties

🎙️ Visit the newsroom section of vklaw.com or find IP Goes Pop! in your favorite podcaster to listen now!