Courtroom battles are reshaping the film industry in ways that affect everyone from A-list stars to streaming subscribers. When Scarlett Johansson sued Disney over Black Widow’s simultaneous streaming release, she wasn’t just fighting for her paycheck—she was challenging how talent gets compensated in the digital age. The resulting alleged $40 million settlement forced studios everywhere to rewrite contracts with streaming contingencies.

Meanwhile, across the globe, Nigerian filmmaker Femi Adebayo made history with a judgment against digital pirates who cleverly misused his film’s promotional materials. His three-year legal fight established crucial precedent for Nollywood creators and signaled that copyright protection extends beyond Hollywood’s borders.

Technology continues to create fascinating legal disruptions. When Quentin Tarantino announced plans to auction Pulp Fiction NFTs, Miramax quickly filed suit, arguing his 1993 contract never contemplated blockchain tokens. Though they settled privately, the dispute highlighted how decades-old agreements struggle to address technologies that didn’t exist when the ink dried.

The most provocative developments involve artificial intelligence. Buenos Aires prosecutors are challenging their own government for failing to regulate AI systems that clone faces and voices without consent, framing digital identity as a constitutional right. Simultaneously, Chinese courts ruled that images created with AI tools can receive copyright protection—but only when significant human creativity guides the process.

From Japanese courts imposing record penalties against “fast movie” channels that condense films into unauthorized summaries to European judges limiting what information YouTube must share about copyright infringers, these cases collectively demonstrate that intellectual property law isn’t just legal background noise—it’s the script determining who controls the stories we love.

Whether you’re creating content, distributing it, or simply enjoying it as a fan, understanding these shifting legal frameworks provides a fascinating new lens through which to view your favorite films. Subscribe now to explore more intersections of creativity and the fine print that governs it.

Playing Around INTA 2026: A Scenario Game for IP Lawyers – Intangiblia™

We’re in London at the INTA 2026 Annual Meeting, but we’re not doing a standard conference recap. We wanted to show how intellectual property work can be creative, inventive, and even fun, so we built THE INVENTIVE MINDSET GAME, a scenario game, and handed real IP lawyers a stack of tricky client prompts.Each prompt forces a choice: do you follow the client’s exact instructions, take an inventive counseling path, bring in an AI assist tool, or throw a curveball and plan for the worst-case scenario. From a smart home invention to a viral character and an influencer launching a skincare line, we dig into the practical decisions behind patent strategy, trademark protection, and copyright, including how to think about prior art, claim scope, brand control, and what “commercialization” actually demands.We also talk about the unglamorous but critical details that can make or break an IP strategy: picking the right trademark classes, avoiding coverage that doesn’t match the business, and sequencing filings when budgets are tight. If you’re a founder, creator, in-house counsel, or just curious about how IP law works in the real world, you’ll leave with clearer mental models and sharper questions to ask before you file anything.Subscribe for more stories and practical IP insights, share this with a friend building a brand, and leave a review if the game format helped you think differently about IP. What would you choose first: safe, inventive, AI-assisted, or curveball?Send us Fan MailCheck out "Protection for the Inventive Mind" – available now on Amazon in print and Kindle formats.The views and opinions expressed (by the host and guest(s)) in this podcast are strictly their own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the entities with which they may be affiliated. This podcast should in no way be construed as promoting or criticizing any particular government policy, institutional position, private interest or commercial entity. Any content provided is for informational and educational purposes only.

1. Playing Around INTA 2026: A Scenario Game for IP Lawyers 08:56
2. Sports As IP Strategy 15:15
3. The Afterlife of Innovation: Can IP Outlive the Business That Created It? 19:44
4. Case Study: Lindt’s Gold Bunny Trademark Saga 22:40
5. What Kind of Negotiator Are You, Really? 39:39