Volpe Koenig

Attention Philadelphia area non-profit organizations.

Volpe Koenig's annual $40,000 IPromise Jeffrey M. Glabicki Memorial Giving Fund is now open for 2026.

Applications will be accepted through August 14, 2026.

https://www.vklaw.com/news-volpe-koenig-2026-annual-40k-grant-campaign-open-for-applications

The “middle” phase of intellectual property protection is where strategy, negotiation, and risk management take shape.

In the latest episode of IP Goes Pop!®, hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue connect famous middle acts in entertainment—from Quentin Tarantino films to W***y Wonka and Jurassic Park—to the middle stages of patent, trademark, trade secret, and copyright protection.

Learn about:
• What “patent pending” really means
• How patent examination can strengthen a patent
• Protecting trade secrets through NDAs and confidentiality measures
• Common law trademark rights versus federal registration
• Trademark examination and USPTO requirements
• The connection between copyright and trademark protection

The episode also takes a fun look at whether W***y Wonka’s factory tours would survive modern confidentiality practices and whether Jurassic Park had one of the least effective trade secret protection programs in movie history.

Listen and subscribe to IP Goes Pop!® on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

For full show notes and resources visit:

Season 7 Ep 4: IP Goes Pop®: Stuck In the “Middle” with You...and Patents, Trademarks, and Trade Secrets While beginnings and ends usually get the spotlight, middles are often where the “magic” happens. The Empire Strikes Back transformed Star Wars from a successful sci-fi movie into a cultural phenomenon. Reservoir Dogs permanently linked “Stuck in the Middle With You” to one of the most memor...

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

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!

Season 7 Ep 3: The IP of Higher Education 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...

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.

“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?

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

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