What kind of things should I be thinking about while creating my first commercial game so I do not get in legal trouble?

You received very good responses. Just to chime in, there are of course a number of legal considerations to deal with here so you really need to...

Is a business registered in the selling of cannabis different enough from a social network company to be tradmarked?

Regards to federal trademark registration, you cannot receive one if the mark describes anything related to the sale of cannabis because that is...

This practice derived from real world interactions with those celebs that patronized a place of business. So if Mayor de Blasio came in one day and...

You are in the realm of trademark infringement if you present a false association, endorsement, sponsorship or other affiliation with a trademark...

Can I make them remove it since it's mine, or did I screw myself by letting them use it in the first place?

As you can glean from the other responses, there are a number of things to consider. I am making an assumption here that first, this design was not...

There is a lot to consider here. We also have the transfer of copyright regime to consider. From the US Copyright Office: "Section 203 of the...

What can we do/not do in a podcast about Godzilla movies? Still images? Music? Sounds? Do we add a disclaimer? What's fair use?

This all greatly depends on what you use, how much of it you use and in what context you use it. For instance, an obvious example of fair use is...

What is the advised way to do this?

Any creative expression will be covered by copyright law automatically. Then you register the work with the US Copyright Office so to perfect your...

Copyright/Trademark or ??

So in the fashion business, the trademark is considered the centerpiece. Copyright is not really relevant here because in the US garments are not...

How do I proceed from here? I don't want to have him arrested where he will lose job, but I want to be legal .

That's a shame, but it does happen and usually when people hit bottom it is their family members that pay the price. If it is related to substance...