Swipe once and everything changes: not just your screen, but the law that decides who owns the look and feel of our digital world. We dig into how design law—built for chairs, lamps, and sneakers—now grapples with GUIs, animations, and metaverse wearables, and why that shift is reshaping how creators protect their work. From the basics of industrial design rights to the thorny ordinary observer test, we explain how novelty, individual character, and visibility play out when beauty lives in motion, frames per second, and immersive spaces.

We walk through pivotal cases across the United States, China, and India, showing where courts drew hard lines on virtual depictions and where they reimagined who “makes” a product when software renders the interface in users’ hands. Then we explore major reforms in the EU, Japan, Brazil, Canada, and beyond, where lawmakers explicitly recognize non-physical products, GUIs, icons, typefaces, animations, and spatial AR/VR arrangements. If you design apps, skins, or 3D experiences, this is the practical roadmap you need to understand registration hurdles, frame-based filings for animated designs, and emerging standards for comparing interfaces under real-world use.

We don’t stop at doctrine. Expect clear takeaways on building a layered IP strategy—combining design registrations with trademarks and copyright—plus guidance on liability in digital ecosystems where developers create, platforms distribute, and millions of users display. We also tackle metaverse questions: when does copying a virtual jacket cross into infringement, and how should creators think about identity, status, and interoperability across platforms? By the end, you’ll see why the line between tangible and digital design is fading—and how that gives creators confidence to innovate boldly while staying protected.

If this conversation sparks ideas, share it with a designer or founder in your life, subscribe for future deep dives, and leave a quick review to help more creators find the show.

Check out “Protection for the Inventive Mind” – available now on Amazon in print and Kindle formats.

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