LotG 015: Who’s on First?

• Today’s topic is a recent issue involving Doctor Who and the television show Community; tying in issues of copyright, trademark, fair use, and fanfic. (Isn’t my title clever…will anyone actually get it?)

• Thank You’s: Adam, for rushing home during his lunch break and fixing our upload of our last episode, saving us when Michael Stackpole tweeted that our last episode cut off halfway through. Geoff promises you a beer.

• The RPG Podcast Listener Survey has been an ongoing endeavor to identify the audience and trends in RPG Podcast Listening. If you’re an RPG podcast listener, and haven’t taken the survey already, please consider taking the survey by clicking here. It only takes a few minutes! If you’re interested in the results of previous years to see how your contributions will be used, check out last year’s analysis here.

• Melina’s mega-quick Forge Midwest recap! She got to play Dungeonworld, Lady Blackbird, and got to meet Tim Koppang from episode 13!

• We talk a while about Doctor Who. We both love The Ninth Doctor.

• Then we talk a while about Community! Melina’s a big fan. Especially of the D&D episode.

• Community’s creation, Inspector Spacetime!

• Let the Battle Commence: “Inspector Spacetime The Webseries” n/k/a “An Untitled Webseries About A Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time.” See what all the fuss is about here.

• Comparing Doctor Who and Inspector Spacetime. Legally a parody?

• Comparing Inspector Spacetime and the Untitled Webseries. Legally a parody?

• Thanks for listening! Happy Cinco de Mayo hangover recovery! Catch us in 2 weeks!

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LotG 014 – Do Not Pass Go! Do Not Collect $200! Rise of the E-Bookopoly?

• Today’s episode is about a VERY current topic – the antitrust lawsuit filed by the DOJ a
  week and a half ago regarding e-book pricing.

• No thank you’s today, but we do have a “Congrats!” Jennisodes – for landing an
  interview with Wil Wheaton as her celebratory 100th Episode. Wow! You go girl- we’re
  officially jealous. Catch the interview here

• DOJ has initiated an antitrust lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of
  New York against Apple and five really big publishing houses. 12-cv-2826.

• The backdrop: Accusations of the “Amazon Monopoly” and what the Agency Model is.

• The Sherman Act: 15 USC Section 1, and the tale woven by the Complaint: 46 pages of
  glorious detail about late night encounters in the private rooms of posh Italian
  restaurants.

• Who settles and who’s prepared to fight.

• The Impact on You: How the impending battle will affect writers and consumers.

• Catch us in two weeks, and if you’re in Madison, WI this coming weekend, come game
  with Melina at Forge Midwest. She’ll be running Fiasco and maybe even Inspectres!

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LotG 013 – Legal Challenges in Game Licensing: An Interview with Game Designer Daniel Solis and Attorney Tim Koppang

• On today’s episode we have a special treat! We’re going to be interviewing game
  designer Daniel Solis and his attorney, Tim Koppang.

• In addition to his success in designing RPGs such as such as Do: Pilgrims of the Flying
  Temple, and Happy Birthday, Robot! (and generally being an all-around interesting guy),
  Daniel has recently been on a journey that has taken him through some of the legal challenges
  and pitfalls of game licensing. Daniel is here to talk about his experience with Tim Koppang,
  attorney by day, game designer by night.
  • A little about Daniel and Tim, and their respective backgrounds in “Geek Culture.”
  • What is “SageFight?” Melina just has to know.
  • Happy Birthday, Robot! The origin story.
  • Enter agreement with Evil Hat Productions.
  • Sandstorm and the phantom boxed set.
  • The pitfalls and how Daniel got his license back.
  • Find Happy Birthday, Robot! here at Evil Hat Productions and check out Daniel’s other projects at
    his blog
  • Check out what Tim’s working on at www.tckroleplaying.com, and if you’re interested in
    his day job/alternate identity, find him here
  • If you’re in the area, catch Tim and Melina at Forge Midwest April 27-29 in Madison, WI

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LotG 012: Afterlives of the Litigious and Famous – A Listener Mailathon!

Your listener-submitted Right of Publicity topics regarding these five celebrities are discussed in this episode!

• I. Thank you to everyone who has donated to the American Lung Association! We mastered the met! More pictures are posted on twitter. Our thanks goes to:
  • Suzanne Gerber
  • Chris from the Wapcaplets Podcast
  • Dustin from The Underdiscussion Podcast
  • Kevin from The Underdiscussion Podcast
  • Denise Dalton
  • Tresi Arvizo
  • Ryan Kinkelaar
  • Josh Thomson
  • Eric Smailys
  • Gabrielle Miller
  • The Horton-Amelung-Wooldridge Foundation
  • Becca Brown
  • Big E and The Fabulous Mrs. Thomas

• II. LOTS AND LOTS OF LISTENER MAIL!! Remember folks, this is not legal advice!

• III. The case of the infamous Steve Jobs action figure: From Sean Dalton.

• IV. The mystery of Vincent Price Dry Cleaners: From Joel Lattanzi.

• V. The web comic featuring Michael Crichton, Super Sleuth! From Matt. Just, Matt.

• VI. Batman’s Wild Night with Neil Patrick Harris. From Fridrik Bjarnason.

• VII. Jerry Fallwell takes on Hustler Magazine. Also From Fridrik Bjarnason.

• VIII. Thanks again for listening! Catch us in 2 weeks!

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LotG 011: Lives of the Litigious and Famous

• I. Thank you to everyone who has donated to the American Lung
  Association so far on our behalf! Next episode we’ll call out our
  donor roll and tell you how we did on the climb!

• II. Today’s episode is all about Right of Publicity!

• III. What is it and what are the methods to enforce your rights
  as a celebrity?

• IV. FIRST EVER, LAW OF THE GEEK CONTEST!!! Post the answer to
  the following question before 5pm CST this Friday in the comments
  section of this episode on our website, or tweet the answer
  @lawofthegeek: Who coined the term “Right of Publicity,” and in what
  year? One winner will be announced on the next episode and will win a
  Law of the Geek t-shirt!

• V. Elements of claims for Commercial Appropriation and False Endorsement.

• VI. A Smattering of Cases on Right of Publicity: Woody Allen,
  Johnny Carson, and Vanna White!

• VII. First Amendment concerns.

• VIII. Next week: Part II of Right of Publicity: 3 lucky listeners
  get their listener mail answered!

• IX. If you’re in Iowa during the weekend of the 24th and 25th,
  I’ll be at The Walking Eye Con – a gaming/podcaster convention held by
  The Walking Eye Podcast. So
  come say hi! And catch us in 2 weeks!

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LotG 010: Let’s Do the “In Time” Warp Again!

• I. Geoff and Melina momentarily have a complete brain lapse and forget about the Jump to the Left and then the Step to the Right.

• II. Guess we were wrong about the Super Bowl winner. Oh well, at least the party was fun. Hope everyone had a great Super Bowl, Love a Lawyer Day, Visioncon, and Mardi Gras! (Geez, February was a busy month!)

• III. Thank You! – @JBMannon says he has a copy of The Lexicon from the Harry Potter case from our last fanfiction discussion, so apparently at least a few copies slipped into distribution.

• IV. Today’s entire episode is devoted to another piece of listener mail! @JamesDillane like to know about the “In Time” lawsuit that was dismissed at the end of last year.
  • A. The Kilimanjaro Corporation v. New Regency Productions, Inc., 11-CV-07575. This is a suit between Harlan Ellison, writer of the sci fi short story “Repent Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman” who is suing New Regency Productions for copyright infringement over the Justin Timberlake movie “In Time.”
  • B. Geoff and Melina play movie reviewers for a few minutes.
  • C. The complaint, and its “modest” allegations.
  • D. Let’s talk about “substantial similarity.” (But Geoff REALLY wants to talk about differences).
  • E. The similarities alleged in the complaint.
  • F. Your hosts noticed a whole host of differences! (Spoiler Alert!)
  • G. How the suit ended.
  • H. More rampant speculation, courtesy of your hosts.

• V. A brief note on Ellison’s other lawsuits. Ellison vigorously protects his IP!
  • A. James Cameron and The Terminator.
  • B. Paramount (owners of Star Trek) and the City on the Edge of Forever.
  • C. America Online and others.
  • D. Fantographics and the defamation suit…. we should probably say that everything in this podcast constitutes our opinion and any “factual” statements come from our reading of the complaint and other public court documents and news sites. (We love you Harlan!)

• VI. Finally, Melina puts Geoff on the spot to “Master the Met!” This is a 1,000 stair vertical “race” up the tallest building in St. Louis – The Metropolitan Building. Since there are 42 flights, and Geoff is 42 years old, and 42 IS the answer to life, the universe, and everything, Geoff issues a challenge: if you WONDERFUL LISTENERS can generate $420 to be donated to the American Lung Association, Geoff and I will enter the race as “Team Law of the Geek!” Really, all we need is 42 of you to donate $10 each! This is TOTALLY doable! Please donate here!

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LOTG 009: Still Not All’s Fair in Love and Copyright – A Fair Use Listener Mailathon

Is this fanfic fair use?

• I. Welcome to Part II of our Fair Use Episode series. Today we use last week’s groundwork and tackle two pieces of geeky listener mail related to fair use. Remember kids, none of this is legal advice.

• II. From Tony Mast at Back Seat Producers: May a media reviewer review fan fiction or other unlicensed copyright-protected media without liability?
  • A. A little about fanfic, just in case you’re a non-geek lawyer listening to this. Melina also educates Geoff about “slashfic.”
  • B. Fanfic against the four fair use factors.
  • C. The Cases: The courts have touched Twin Peaks, Star Trek, and Harry Potter, and it hasn’t ended well for the fanfic writers.
  • D. Geoff asks the audience to help him out with a piece of Twin Peaks trivia.
  • E. Movie reviews of fanfiction against the fair use factors.

• III. From @Tresi: What kinds of format shifting are allowed under US law, and is there any interesting case law or history regarding the state of fair use for digital media?
  • A. A little about format shifting, just in case you’re a non-techie listening to this.
  • B. The seminal (and hopefully not too boring) statutes.

• IV. Catch Melina at Visioncon (http://www.visioncon.net/) this weekend, Friday, February 17th and Saturday, February 18th!

• V. Happy Valentine’s Day a.k.a. Happy Love a Lawyer Day! Flowers and scotch welcome. Geoff thinks every day is Friday the 13th.

• VI. Our Super Bowl picks! And catch us both in two weeks for another great episode!

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LOTG 008: Not All’s Fair in Love and Copyright

Is this fair use?

• I. Part One of a two-part episode all about Fair Use! Instead of doing what we normally do and focusing the majority of the episode taking a deep dive into a single topic or case, we’ll be going through what fair use is, how it works, the seminal cases, how creators have gotten it right, and how creators have gotten it wrong. How exciting!

• II. Fair Use Dissected!
  • A. Section 107 of the Copyright Act and the Four Fair Use factors.
    • 1. The purpose and character of the use, and commercial use versus educational use.
    • 2. The nature of the copyrighted work.
    • 3. The amount of the copyrighted work used.
    • 4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for the copyrighted work.
  • B. Campbell v. Acuff-Rose, Inc. as a seminal fair use case – “Oh Pretty Woman” the rock ballad v. “Pretty Woman” the rap song.
  • C. Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises as another seminal fair use case, but this one is kind of boring so we’ll talk about it quickly.
  • D. How to get it right: Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp – Vanity Fair’s Demi Moore photograph versus Paramount’s Leslie Nielsen photograph (posted above). A
    • 1. Melina’s loves Fievel Mousekewitz. She also cannot pronouce “Demi” Moore.
  • E. How to get it wrong: Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. v. Penguin Books USA, Inc. – The Cat in the Hat versus The Cat
    NOT in the Hat – an O.J. Simpson parody.

• III. Now that we’ve discussed the basics of the law, in the next episode, stay tuned for Part Two of our Fair Use episode: Two pieces of Listener Mail will be discussed:
  • A. Tony Mast at Back Seat Producers wants to know whether a media reviewer may review fan fiction or other unlicensed copyright-protected media without liability.
  • B. @Tresi wants to know what kinds of format shifting are allowed under US law and if there’s any interesting case law or history regarding the state of fair use for digital media.

• IV. We end on a terribly morose note. Melina really hates flying. She hopes to return to do Part Two of the podcast in 2 weeks!

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LotG 007: SOPARODY: A Mashup Episode!

Are readers likely to think these come from the same source?

• I. Today we’ll be doing a mashup! Zombie “parody” novels, followed by a SOPA update!

• II. Thank Yous! Catch an all new episode of Jennisodes, interviewing Law of the Geek!

• III. Diary of a Wimpy Kid v. Diary of a Zombie Kid – we just had to talk about zombies again and this is a great excuse!
• A. Wimpy Kid, Inc. v. Antarctic Press, 11-CV-12265
• B. A little about the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series.
• C. A little about the Diary of a Zombie Kid Series.
• D. @Notch should take a lesson from Joe Dunn.
• E. The temporary restraining order and its implications.
• F. The legal stuff.
  • 1. Trademark Infringement and the related claims – looking at the title and the jacket style for likelihood of confusion.
  • 2. Copyright Infringement – looking at the jacket and substantial similarities.
• G. Other Zombie Parody Novels, and how they’ve avoided the courtroom.
  • 1. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies….and Alice/Dorothy/Wendy porno?
  • 2. Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid
  • 3. Night of the Living Trekkie
  • 4. We throw in some vampires, slayers, and sea monsters just for variety.

• IV. Breaking News! A Law of the Geek SOPA Update
  • A. What has happened in the last month? (Geoff’s backpedaling truly creates a mashup episode!)
  • B. An 11 hour hearing abruptly halted.
  • C. Scheduled markup and postponement.
  • D. The Go Daddy Debacle.
  • E. Will the “Nuclear Option” happen? The looming internet blackout.
  • F. Next Key Date: January 18th. Bring in the Nerds!!

• V. Thanks again for listening! Keep submitting topics, and catch us in 2 weeks!

• VI: BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Stay tuned after the regular episode for Melina’s post-recording SOPA update regarding the latest news – the White House’s official statement on SOPA!

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LotG 006: Take Me To Your Creator!

• I. Happy New Year! Ring in 2012 with Law of the Geek!

• II. Today we’ll be talking about the “out of this world” Cowboys and Aliens lawsuit, and then we have more Listener Mail!

• III. Cowboys and Aliens v. Cowboys and Aliens v. Cowboys and Aliens. Really?
  • A. We play movie reviewers for a few minutes.

  • B. Busti v. Platinum Studios, Inc. et al. 11-cv-01029.
  • C. More rampant speculation, as always! Oh, and Melina has a signed copy of the original comic!
  • D. Judge Sam Sparks – Judge by day, Superhero by night?
  • E. A little about the Plaintiff and Defendants.
  • F. The original 1995 comic versus the 2006 graphic novel and the 2011 movie.
  • G. Let’s go on a journey through time together! The factual timeline. We may need the help of the TARDIS.
  • H. Melina is super jealous that Geoff has been to Comic-Con and she hasn’t.
  • I. The legal stuff.
    • 1. Why copying the title “Cowboys and Aliens” doesn’t cut it.
    • 2. Idea versus Expression: Can aliens set in the wild west ever be protectable?
    • 3. Substantial Similarities: Parsing out the similarities and differences.
  • J. Looking into the Crystal Ball: How might this suit play out?

• IV. Listener Mail Segment! Who will the lucky listener be?
  • A. @williampall wants to know some specifics about MTV Networks v. White Wolf, Inc., et al. 1:97-cv-07947. Great Question!
  • B. A little about Aeon Flux, the animated series, from Melina.
  • C. A little about Trinity (formerly Aeon), the RPG, from Geoff.
  • D. How the suit ended quickly.
  • E. How the differences in the media types (animated series v. RPG) could have played into the analysis.

• V. Good luck with those New Year’s Resolutions! We’re excited about ours: Geoff is waiting to discover he’s the last son of Krypton and Melina is waiting for her August brown recluse bite powers to manifest.

• VI. We’ll back in 2 weeks!

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