Fire of Genius

On this episode, Karlie, Srija, and Yimming discuss the lawsuit involving the famous American band Earth, Wind, and Fire v. the tribute band known as The Illumination: The EWF Experience. The discussion revolves around trademark infringement and other claims raised by the band against The Illumination, citing their use of "EWF Experience" and a similar logo in their performances and promotions. The group also examines legal precedents and other instances to explore the nuanced boundary between imitation and infringement within the realm of tribute bands.

On this episode, Jackson, Tanner, and Hunter discuss the background of artificial intelligence and its various categories. Specifically, the group delves into the approaches and legislation concerning AI by the European Union and the American Federal Trade Commission.

On this episode, associates Andy, Jenna, and Arathi delve into the recently established Unified Patent Court (UPC) in the European Union. The discussion will cover background information of the new system, its advantages and disadvantages, and a comparative analysis between the UPC and the United States patent system.

on this episode, Ben, Amelia, and Tianyuan delve into a discussion concerning the utilitization of trademark consumer surveys, the impact of using these surveys in trademark disputes — particularly in likelihood of confusion cases — and the potential risk reduction through the use of brain scans.

On this episode, Hunter, Jackson, and Tanner engage in a discussion about the legal implications of Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) and Tennessee & Virginia's Attorney General suits against the NCAA. The focus of their conversation revolves around the legal challenges faced by the NCAA for imposing restrictions on students' use of their NIL.

On this episode, Jenna, Andy, and Arathi delve into the intricacies of the Copyright Act, shedding light on its background. They explore three monumental copyright cases related to tattoos and engage in a thoughtful discussion about the overarching challenges associated with copyright ownership within the tattoo industry.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Srija, Yiming, and Karlie sit down with Indiana University Maurer School of Law's Professor Marshall Leaffer. The episode focuses on the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court case Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International. In this discussion, the associates and Professor Leaffer speak about extraterritorial trademark infringement recovery limitations.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Jenna, Andy, and Arathi examine the legal aspects of trademarks and candy shapes. These associates discuss historical cases, what candy shapes, such as KitKat bars, have and have not been trademarked in the United States, and trademark comparisons between the U.S. and Europe.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Ben, Amelia, and Tianyuan host Professor Jayma Meyer to discuss the NCAA, historical student-athlete cases, and proposed NIL bills.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Hunter , Jackson, and Tanner discuss the procedural details, final decision, and the effects of the Supreme Court case Jack Daniel's Properties v. VIP Products.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Caroline and Taylor welcome Professor Peter Lee from University of California, Davis School of Law, to discuss ways to enhance the wider societal effects of innovation.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Ben, Amelia, and Tianyuan sit down to discuss the 2023 writer's strike and its impact on the discussions and uses of Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Caroline and Taylor sit down with Professor Greg Reilly of Chicago-Kent College of Law to discuss Professor Reilly's recently published paper regarding how differently distinct audiences may perceive various ways patents signal information and evaluate the results of those perceptions.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, associates Tanner, Jackson, and Hunter discuss the Right to Repair and its impact on technology, agriculture, consumer rights, and environmental sustainability.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, associates Karlie, Srija, and Yiming discuss how traditional IP protections are favoring small businesses and allowing fast fashion companies to capitalize on this defect. 

On this episode of Fire of Genius, associates Jenna Sur, Andy Eddington, and Arathi Kumar discuss the intellectual property background within the two-part blockbuster combination: Barbie and Oppenheimer.

Caroline McCord and Taylor Nunley speak with Guest Marek Kobryń to discuss his paper on whether EU data protection cases should further be governed by EU competition and anti-trust laws.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Maya, Taylor, and Caroline provide an overview of ChatGPT and discuss the ever-growing use of the new technology. The group considers the benefits and drawbacks of using ChatGPT within the legal field.

Former Associate Editors Vanessa Wang and Amy Qi discuss what case law proposes as to the privilege issue within the context of patent practice. Specifically, Vanessa and Amy analyze the issue through an in-house patent attorney perspective.

On this Episode of Fire of Genius, Jacob, Sydney, and Karen sit down with Professor Yvonne Cripps to discuss biomedical technologies and the various legal fields surrounding this science.  Associates particularly ask about privacy law, contracts, and policy considerations in the adjudication and legislation on matters pertaining to biomedical science.

On this Episode of Fire of Genius, Graham, Rob, and Ahsan discuss the case Amgen, Inc. v. Sanofi, which is a case before the Supreme Court. The Associates discuss how the case will hopefully clarify the contours of the patent application on the requirement of “enablement.”

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Amy, Vanessa, and Sam discuss the newest phishing scam that IP right holders are experiencing, resources available to IP right holders, and how to be vigilant for such attempted attacks.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Audio Editor, Megan Wheeler, and Associate, Rob Kessling, interview Laura Dolbow on her forthcoming publication entitled "Barring Judicial Review." They specifically address the Patent and Trademark's Office regulations and judicial bar on whether or not to instigate inter partes review.

One case (Apple, et al. v. Vidal, et al.) that is discussed in the podcast has been adjudicated on since the recording of this podcast. The opinion is available here: https://cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions-orders/22-1249.OPINION.3-13-2023_2093598.pdf

If you are interested in reading Ms. Dolbow's article, it will be available in the Vanderbilt Law Review soon and is available online at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4368442.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Maggie, Nicole, and Stephanie discuss Mickey's looming expiration date and the expiration of the Steam Boat Willy copyright. They also discuss trademark protection that Disney may depend on at their expiration.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Caroline, Taylor, and Maya discuss the litigation following the sale of NFTs featuring the famous Hermes Birkin Bag.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Graham, Rob, and Ahsan discuss abusive practices employed by big tech. They particularly focus on the case, Sonos v. Google, as an example of some of these practices.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Jacob, Sydney and Karen discuss patent eligibility issues deriving from precendent and American Axle v. Neapco, and possible methods to address the confusion felt by the patent-practicing community. 

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Amy, Vanessa, and Sam Associates discuss the harsh repercussions against innocent infringers and compare that between copyright and patent infringements.

*Please note this was formerly mis-titled as "Innocent Copies," but it (and the description of the episode) has been changed to better reflect the subject of discussion.

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Maggie, Nicole, and Stephanie discuss Adidas's terminating of their relationship with Yeezy and speculate what will be in both parties' future with the "Yeezy" IP. 

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Caroline, Maya, and Taylor discuss the history and current developments of dog toy parody products and trademark infringement cases. 

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Megan Wheeler, Audio Editor, and Associate, Caroline McCord, sit down with Jordi Goodman to discuss her research on disparity among gender and race in the patent field, particularly on patent prosecution filings. Jordi is a assistant clinical professor of the BU/MIT Technology Law Clinic at the Boston University School of Law who visited our campus last semester. 

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Jacob, Sydney, and Karen discuss the many implications associated with AI inventorship in patent conception that may occur in the future according to the decision in Thaler v. USPTO. 

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Rob, Graham, and Ahsan discuss the implications of the right of repair and anti-trust laws and how they impact patents and patent holders.  

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Audio Editor, Megan Wheeler, and Associate, Vanessa Wang, sit down with Ken Germain and Lou Sitler to discuss their Article which will be republished in IP Theory Volume 12 entitled, "The Constitution Commandeth: Thou Shalt Not Protect the Same Subject Matter Under Design Patent and Trade Dress Laws."  

In this episode of Fire of Genius, Amy, Vanessa, and Sam discuss tattoo art copyright issues in commercial material such as video games and movie posters. 

On this episode of Fire of Genius, Maggie, Nicole, and Stephanie discuss the impact of social media terms of service on user generated IP.  They further discuss their thoughts on addressing the conflict caused by granting a nonexclusive license to copyrightable works posted on social media. 

On this week's episode of Fire of Genius, Audio Editor, Megan Wheeler, and Associate, Sydney Schnur, sit down with Eyal Barash to discuss strategies for patenting of pharmaceuticals that may be repurposed.  Eyal has over two decades of experience as a patent lawyer. Prior to starting Barash Law in 2009, he was chief patent counsel to SSCI, the world’s leader in solid-state chemistry. Before working for SSCI, Eyal practiced patent prosecution, litigation, and client counseling at a large intellectual property law firm in Washington, D.C. Eyal attended Indiana University where received undergraduate degrees in chemistry and history before making his way to California where he obtained a masters degree in physical chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.

On this week's episode of Fire of Genius, Graham, Rob, and Ahsan discuss how the inter partes review (IRP) procedure contesting patentability of a pharmaceutical has created suspicions of stock shorting; the group predominantly uses Kyle Bass's recent IRP claims and resulting economics of his practices as a case study. 

On this week's episode of Fire of Genius, Caroline, Taylor, and Maya discuss the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's 'frightening' experience with fraudulent filings.  The Associates also discuss what measures are being considered in combatting these practices.    

On this week’s episode of Fire of Genius, Maggie, Nicole, and Stephanie discuss the greatly followed case Warhol v. Goldsmith and whether the Prince Series prints infringe Goldsmith's copyright or whether they are transformative enough to be deemed preliminary social commentary to meet Fair Use Standards.

On this week’s episode of Fire of Genius, Jacob, Sydney, and Karen discuss whether patents are property or private rights.

 On this week's episode of Fire of Genius, Associates, Amy, Vanessa, and Sam, discuss the ways in which BIPOC creators are harmed or disadvantaged by Intellectual Property law (or lack thereof) and potential remedies to fix this inequity. 

On this week's episode of Fire of Genius, Associates, Caroline, Taylor, and Maya summarize and discuss Moderna's lawsuits against Pfizer and BioNTech, which claim that the pair violated Moderna's mRNA patents.  These lawsuits have been filed after Moderna formerly pledged not to bring suit against them during the pandemic crisis. 

On this week's episode of Fire of Genius, Audio Editor, Megan Wheeler, sits down with Josie Little, third year law student at University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law, to discuss her article, McRussia: The Weaponization of Intellectual Property.  Josie shares updates in the aggressive policies and laws pertaining to copyright and trademark that Russia has been taking in response to sanctions against them stemming from their war on Ukraine. 

On this week's episode of Fire of Genius, Lilly, Hannah, and Allissa discuss Lilly's Note submission on the legal implications and possible remedies of AR technology in virtual "fitting rooms" and on "make-up counters".  This podcast was recorded last semester and graciously passed on to Volume 12 while. our new Associates work on their own content. 

Editor in Chief, Lilly Huff, and Audio Editor, Megan Wheeler welcome back Fire of Genius listeners and briefly share the work that has already been put into this year's Volume and what they look forward to in the coming year.  Our Associates are already excited to record, and special thanks to Luke Steffe, Business Manager, for his help in getting new recording equipment for the continuation of this podcast. 

On this episode of Fire of Genius, leaving Podcast Editor, Chris McMillan, and leaving Editor-in-Chief, Zach Shepard, interview Professor Mark Janis on the accomplishments of IP Theory and Center for Intellectual Property this year.  They also interview the incoming Editor-in-Chief, Lilly Huff, and incoming Podcast editor, Megan Wheeler, on their plans for volume 12 of IP Theory next year. 

On this week's episode of Fire of Genius, Audio Editor Chris McMillan sits down with 2L associate Megan Wheeler to discuss her note titled Fair Use Failing the First Amendment? How the Parody and Satire Dichotomy May be Stunting Political Discourse. Megan's note was presumed by the journal and will be published next year in volume 12 of IP Theory.

On this week's episode of Fire of Genius, 2L associates Scott, Megan, David, and Alex discuss the issue of abandonment of racially insensitive trademarks.

On this week's episode of Fire of Genius, 2L associates Scott, Megan, David, and Alex discuss Alex's note which deals with the issue of GI protection for Vietnamese coffee producers.