“If you’re not first, you’re last!” This week on IP Goes Pop!®, co-hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue chase down “IP firsts” and explain why these origin stories still matter to creators, brands, and inventors today.
The episode opens with our hosts’ personal firsts (early movie-theater memories, ticket-counter hijinks). The discussion then shifts to media milestones. Michael and Joe start by highlighting the first televised commercial during a live sports broadcast, decades before the modern era of See more +
“If you’re not first, you’re last!” This week on IP Goes Pop!®, co-hosts Michael Snyder and Joseph Gushue chase down “IP firsts” and explain why these origin stories still matter to creators, brands, and inventors today.
The episode opens with our hosts’ personal firsts (early movie-theater memories, ticket-counter hijinks). The discussion then shifts to media milestones. Michael and Joe start by highlighting the first televised commercial during a live sports broadcast, decades before the modern era of Super Bowl commercials and “skip ad” buttons. From there, the hosts trace more “TV firsts”. These include the first laugh track, heard in The Hank McCune Show, and the first prime-time animated series, The Flintstones.
The episode then moves from the screen to intellectual property firsts. On the patent side, the early United States patent system looks nothing like what we know today. In the beginning, patent applications were reviewed by top federal officials, including Thomas Jefferson, and personally signed off on by President George Washington. Patent history also includes a key reset point: the 1836 Patent Office fire, which destroyed records and forced rebuilding and renumbering.
Trademarks bring their own twist. Trademark No. 1 (1870) went to the Averill Chemical Paint Company, but the Supreme Court later invalidated the 1870 federal trademark statute, prompting a reboot of the whole system under a new act in 1881.
For “copyright firsts,” Michael and Joe look in their own backyard to Philadelphia for the 1790 copyright registration for the Philadelphia Spelling Book.
This episode of IP “firsts” isn't just a collection of fun facts. Knowing the roots of intellectual property helps with understanding how ideas and designs are protected today. The episode explains the rules that guide the IP process, why they changed, and what that means when you’re protecting a brand, a product, or a creative work today. What will your IP protection “first” be? See less -
