A-lister antics and Schedule A shenanigans

The Vergecast

Vox Media Podcast Network

News, Tech News, Technology

4.4 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 89 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Summer blockbusters like the new Superman and Jurassic World movies may be doing great at the box office, but promoting them is more complicated than ever. The old celebrity playbook of magazine profiles, TV chat shows and press junkets isn’t enough in an era of audience fragmentation. Publicists now have to strategize which podcasts to make time for, and whether their clients will eat chicken on YouTube with Amelia Dimoldenberg or Sean Evans. This week on The Vergecast, guest host Mia Sato talks to Vulture’s Fran Hoepfner to break down the ever-changing new media circuit, whether you’re a beloved A-lister, a formerly-beloved A-lister, or an aspiring A-lister. Then, we take a deep dive with Sarah Fackrell into a controversial legal tactic brands are using to go after online sellers hawking everything from grumpy cat T-shirts to closet hooks. Finally, Victoria Song joins Mia to answer a Vergecast hotline from a listener wondering whether an AI translator will be able to keep up with his partner’s Colombian mother. If you’ve got a question for us, call 866-VERGE11 or e-mail [email protected]. Further reading: Box Office: ‘Superman’ Surpasses $400 Million Globally, ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Nears $650 Million Milestone The Celebrity Press-Tour Road Map Fame and Frustration On the New Media Circuit Sydney woman who sold a cartoon cat T-shirt told to pay US$100,000 in Grumpy Cat copyright case How Does a Mom Get Slapped With a $250,000 Judgment Over $380 of Homemade Luke Combs Merch? Experts Cite ‘Cottage Industry’ of Mass Counterfeit Suits in Illinois A SAD Scheme of Abusive Intellectual Property Litigation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Vergecast, the flagship podcast of talking about other people eating chicken on other podcasts, but we don't eat chicken on this podcast.
0:11.6	I'm Mia Sato, and I'm going to be taking over the Tuesday show while David is on parental leave for a few weeks.
0:17.6	On today's show, we're talking about summer blockbuster seasons. There's movie after
0:21.0	movie coming out and celebrities want to get their project in front of you, or maybe they
0:26.4	just want to put themselves in front of you. We're going to be talking to Fran Hopner, a newswriter
0:31.6	at Vulture, and a friend of mine who wrote a really excellent piece back in June about the crazy hoops that celebrities now
0:38.8	have to jump through in order to get attention in an age of fragmented media consumption and
0:44.3	at the time when linear television is on the decline. After that, we're going to talk about the flood
0:49.5	of cheap knockoff and copycat products that you have no doubt seen online before. In an age of
0:55.6	cheap copycat products, brands have found a way to go after dozens or even hundreds of
1:00.9	storefronts that they say are infringing on their IP rights. But what happens when someone is
1:05.8	wrongly accused of IP infringement? There's a new crop of lawsuits called Schedule A that's something of a legal
1:12.0	trend right now. We're talking with law professor Sarah Fackerel about what these lawsuits do and how
1:17.6	they could hurt competition online. Later on, we'll have my colleague V. Song on to help me answer a
1:22.6	question about AI translators. But first, I have to go unbox 20 Laboooo Boo Boou blind boxes. This is a Vergecast. We'll be right
1:29.7	back. Support for this program comes from FM. Established nearly two centuries ago,
1:36.9	FM is a leading mutual insurance company whose capital, scientific research capability and
1:42.2	engineering expertise are solely dedicated to property risk management and the resilience of its policyholder owners.
1:49.0	These owners who share the belief that the majority of property loss is preventable,
1:53.0	work with FM to better understand the hazards that can impact their business continuity,
1:58.0	to make cost-effective risk management decisions
2:01.2	combining property loss prevention with insurance protection.
	...

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