A Lawyer's Guide to the Galaxy Podcast

Ben and Kirk record a quick episode to discuss the stimulus package for the coronavirus outbreka, specifically an unprecedented new power delegated by Congress to the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: the authority to extend statutory deadlines during a time of national crisis. Once again, we are adhering to the quarantine recommendations so we're recording using remote recording t...

Ben and Kirk record from their respective home offices using some newfangled technology while the nation is in lockdown over COVID-19. Enjoy a little light discussion of fun things to do during the quarantine and Kirk's reviews of the new Rise of the Resistance ride at Galaxy's Edge and the Harry Potter attractions at Universal Studios. The audio quality isn't up to our standards, but we are livin...

With the COVID-19 virus, our regular studios are closed and we're running a prior episode that seems appropriate to the challenges of the day.

Ben and Kirk are both on vacations this week. We'll be diving into Google v. Oracle when we get back, so this week's Rewind episode revisits our prior discussion of open source software, which we'll revisit next week. "How university open debates and discussions introduced me to open source" by opensourceway is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommo...

Ben and Kirk talk about recent proposals to use computer software to "write" every possible song in the 12-note Western system and either own all music forever, or set it free. We go through whether this work and (spoiler alert) why not. Unfortunately, we set the gain on Kirk's microphone wrong so he overloads the audio here and there.

Kirk and Ben discuss the first season of The Mandalorian (Spoiler Alert!). The Podcast also continues its rotation around new recording locations. Today's episode was recorded on the iPhones Voice Memo app and mixed on Audacity (open source!). This will be the last review episode for a bit as we get back to our regular show format.

At long last, Kirk and Ben release their Star Wars Episode 9: Rise of Skywalker review, and preview what's coming in Season 3 of A Lawyer's Guide to the Galaxy. The Podcast will be rotating around various recording studios in St. Louis during Season 3. Today's episode was recorded at the St. Louis Central Library, mixed by Ben using Audacity.

The final episode of Season 2 is a rewind to Season 2, Episode 15, original released September 16, 2019, in which Ben and Kirk offered their predictions about Star Wars, Episode 9.

Their weekly discussions of Star Wars is what started it all, and this week Ben and Kirk go back to the beginning for a special Holiday Edition of Lawyer's Guide to the Galaxy with an all Star Wars episode. Spoiler alert--don't listen if you haven't watched The Mandalorian yet! Listen in as they talk about their favorite and least favorite moments so far in the show, Episode IX, and how they specu...

Ben and Kirk discuss the government's decision to revisit the Paramount Consent Decree, an agreement from the early days of film in which the studios agreed not to also owns the cinemas and multiplexes due to anti-competitive activities. Will a Disney-owned multiplex will be coming to your neighborhood soon? And how will this impact indie filmmakers? Where do studio-neutral streaming services fit...

Ben and Kirk cover 6 topics from various prior episodes ranging from whether EA Sports will be able to release its NCAA Football title soon to who can use "Gloria" to sell Blues swag.

In this episode, Ben and Kirk discuss a unique interaction between geek culture and the law involving the practice of prisons prohibiting inmates from playing roleplaying games. The episode discusses how the law's recognition of the penalogical interests of prisons allows prisons to ban roleplaying games without offending First Amendment principles. "In prison, those things withheld from and denie...

Ben and Kirk discuss lawsuits involving the authorship and royalty stream that arose in the late 70's/early 80's from the popular Dungeons and Dragons tabletop roleplaying game. "San Diego Comic-Con 2014 - Tiamat [D&D Miniatures]" by W10002 is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

In this episode, the guys set aside their love for the 80's and move forward to the 90's! and Kirk talk source code and reverse engineering in the context of recent efforts to revive and port legacy video games Diablo and Final Fantasy 8.

THE BLUES ARE STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS! Ben and Kirk talk hockey for a few minutes and then go over a set of four real-world lawsuits involving Star Wars. From the Strategic Defense Initiative to a strange tale of flooding in Los Angeles, Star Wars has been in our blood since the day it hit the theaters. Tune in and check it out!

In this episode, Ben and Kirk discuss the portray of in film, and run through the TNG episode "Justice" and the DS9 episode "Rules of Engagement." They also discuss the use of law in film generally, including a discussion of how law is used for character development and world-building purposes in Game of Thrones. WARNING: here there be spoilers!

in this episode, Ben and Kirk discuss open source software. What is open source software? Why does it matter? Ben and Kirk are here to answer these questions and make it more understandable and accessible to those of you who aren't as well versed in technology.

Ben and Kirk discuss the nuts and bolts of music copyrighting by examining the popular "Make It So" mashup of Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew "singing" the lyrics to Let It Snow.

With April 15th quickly approaching, hosts Ben Siders and Kirk Damman bring in special guest and tax expert, Mike Donovan, to talk about the weird ways the tax system interacts with geek hobbies. When can you deduct your ticket to GenCon? Do you have to report your Warcraft auction house earnings as income?

Join IP lawyers & certified geeks, Ben Siders and Kirk Damman, as they discuss Part III of law and video games. They give updates on the ever changing Fornite Dance case and also dive into the original NES control pad patent.

Hosts and IP attorneys Kirk Damman and Ben Siders delve further into the world of video games and its ties to law, including a discussion of the Fortnite dance lawsuits, the role of copyright in modern media, the roles of the MPAA and ESRB in the First Amendment, and why those old video game strategy guides always had inaccurate maps.

Join IP lawyers & certified geeks, Ben Siders and Kirk Damman, as they discuss the latest law cases and issues pertaining to video games. But wait..there's more! The two also talk about this year's Public Domain Day and its significance.

Shaking things up a bit, hosts & IP lawyers Kirk Damman & Ben Siders bring in special guest, Billee McAuliffe - a fellow Lewis Rice member & Practice Group leader for Corporate Information Technology Group. The three delve into new world privacy laws which primarily pertains to data privacy. "Privacy" by g4ll4is is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativec...

Join IP lawyers Kirk Damman, Ben Siders, and special guest Charla Claypool for a discussion of the right of publicity and the FTC's investigation into loot boxes and other grey areas of gambling in video games. Also in this episode: you love NCAA football, the Sabacc trademark lawsuit between Ren Ventures and Lucasfilm is over, Wreck-It Ralph 2 is visually unsettling, and make sure you die in the...

Hosts and IP attorneys Kirk Damman and Ben Siders discuss the legal cases that ultimately put EA's NCAA Football video game franchise out of business. Also in this episode: AIPLA was fun, the Music Modernization Act was long overdo, and Deadpool 2 had too much plot.