Key Points

• Intellectual Property Rights: Involving trademark rights, copyrights, etc., it is an important guarantee for podcast content creation and commercialization.
• Trademark Rights: Used to protect the podcast brand and prevent others from causing confusion or making improper use.
• Copyrights: Protect the content of podcast programs, including audio and transcripts.
• Fair Use: The limited use of copyrighted materials within the scope permitted by law.
• AI Infringement: A new type of infringement brought about by the development of AI technology, such as scraping content without authorization to train models.

Abstract

This podcast episode focuses on the increasingly important intellectual property rights issues in the podcast circle, exploring the risks and challenges faced by podcast creators in aspects such as trademark rights and copyrights. The guests, from their respective professional perspectives, analyzed the potential infringement behaviors in podcast content creation and provided practical intellectual property protection suggestions for new podcast creators. It emphasizes that while commercializing and monetizing, podcast creators should attach importance to protecting their own rights and guard against potential risks. Especially in the context of the rapid development of AI technology, podcast content is facing new types of infringement threats, and it is even more necessary to enhance copyright awareness and actively safeguard legitimate rights and interests.

Insights

The content of this podcast has important practical significance and application value. It not only enhances the intellectual property protection awareness of podcast practitioners but also provides references for other content creators. As the content industry continues to develop, the importance of intellectual property protection is becoming increasingly prominent. As a new form of content, podcasts face unique challenges in intellectual property protection. The discussion in this podcast episode helps to standardize the industry's development and promote its healthy and orderly progress.

Views

01 "The Importance of Basic Rights"

Even if a podcast has no strong commercial potential, once its intangible assets are misappropriated by others, it will cause great damage to the brand. Therefore, podcast creators need to obtain and layout basic rights to protect their own interests.

02 "Trademark Registration Strategy"

Trademark registration should be classified and laid out according to the actual situation of the podcast. There is no need to blindly register all categories. Priority should be given to protecting the categories related to podcast content and peripheral products, such as podcast production (Class 41).

03 "Ownership of Rights in Cooperative Works"

For cooperative programs involving guests, the ownership of copyright and the method of use should be clearly agreed upon with the guests in advance to avoid disputes in the future. An authorization agreement can be signed to clarify the rights and obligations of both parties.

In - Depth Analysis

The Intellectual Property Protection Battle in the Podcast Circle: How Creators Should Deal with Potential Risks

Ananya (May 2024) - At the second Port of Voice event of Sound Volume, a discussion on podcast intellectual property rights attracted wide attention. With the booming development of the podcast industry, more and more creators are beginning to attach importance to the protection of their own intellectual property rights. However, in actual operation, many novice podcasters still have insufficient knowledge of intellectual property rights and face various potential risks.

Podcast Content Creation: Minefields of Intellectual Property Rights

As a new form of content, the intellectual property protection of podcasts involves multiple aspects, including trademark rights, copyrights, and unfair competition. Trademark rights are used to protect the brand name and logo of the podcast and prevent others from冒用 or causing confusion. Copyrights protect the content of podcast programs, including audio and transcripts.

"If you plan to monetize this trademark or the name of this podcast in the future, then it is very likely that you need to do some intellectual property - related processing," said Ba Lei, an intellectual property journalist and the host of the podcast "West Sea Voice". "But if it is just a hobby outside of my work, is it really necessary to do this?"

However, even if a podcast has no direct commercial value, intellectual property protection is still crucial. "Maybe my podcast doesn't have great commercial value, and maybe it doesn't have strong commercialization potential. But once someone takes away my intangible assets and uses it as their own brand, the damage to my brand, I think, is very huge," Ba Lei emphasized.

Trademark Squatting: The "Wild Growth" in the Podcast Circle

In recent years, trademark squatting incidents in the podcast industry have been common, triggering widespread concerns in the industry. Some unscrupulous individuals maliciously squat on the trademarks of others' podcasts in an attempt to make a profit. How should podcast creators deal with this situation? Guest Lily suggested that podcast creators should conduct a trademark search before naming their podcasts to avoid infringing on others' prior rights. "Before naming their podcasts or designing their logos, they'd better check through channels such as the Trademark Office to ensure that their names don't infringe on others' trademarks." However, just conducting a trademark search is not enough. More importantly, podcast creators should conduct targeted trademark registration according to their actual situations. "Trademarks are classified. If I remember correctly, there are more than forty classes," guest Open pointed out. "So which classes should you register? I don't know which classes the squatters have registered. Theoretically, a restaurant might have the same name as your podcast. If you don't plan to run a restaurant in the future, why bother with it?"

Copyright Protection: The Amulet for Content Creators

In addition to trademark rights, copyrights are also intellectual property rights that podcast creators need to pay attention to. The content of podcast programs, including audio and transcripts, is protected by copyrights. Without authorization, others are not allowed to copy, distribute, or modify this content without permission. "The copyright is something that is naturally generated once I write it down and record it," guest Lily said. "As for whether you need to register the copyright, it's really not necessary as the cost is too high." However, in actual operation, copyright infringement acts are still prevalent. Some unscrupulous individuals steal others' podcast content through methods such as rewriting and secondary editing and even use it for commercial purposes. What's more worrying is that with the rapid development of AI technology, a new type of copyright infringement is emerging.

AI Infringement: A New Challenge for Content Creation

The rapid development of AI technology has brought new opportunities and challenges to content creation. Some unscrupulous individuals use AI technology to scrape podcast content without authorization, use it to train AI models or generate transcripts, and make a profit from it. "With the support of AI, many so - called independent developers have created an application. What this application does is to scrape podcast programs, convert them into transcripts, or even make summaries using the original models and then sell them for money," guest Zhu Feng pointed out. "First of all, I think the sequence is very interesting. It's not that users register an account, upload the podcasts they want to convert into text, and then get a transcript. Instead, they scrape the podcast content first, make transcripts, and wait for people to pay to view them. These are two completely different things." Facing the new challenge of AI infringement, how should podcast creators deal with it? The guests suggested that on the one hand, they should strengthen their own copyright awareness, and on the other hand, they should actively seek legal protection.

Cooperative Works: The Dilemma of Rights Ownership

In the process of podcast creation, guests' participation is often involved. So, how should the ownership of rights in cooperative works be defined? "For example, when inviting guests or having a cooperation partner, this is typically a cooperative work. In this case, unless otherwise agreed, theoretically, both parties jointly own the rights," guest Lily said. To avoid disputes in the future, podcast creators should clearly agree on the ownership of copyright and the method of use with the guests in advance. An authorization agreement can be signed to clarify the rights and obligations of both parties.

Music Copyright: A Risk That Cannot Be Ignored

Music is a commonly used element in podcast programs, but it can also easily lead to copyright disputes. Using music without authorization may face infringement lawsuits. "If you use music without copyright in this situation, there may indeed be a suspicion of infringement," guest Lily reminded. To avoid music copyright disputes, podcast creators should try to choose music with copyright or use authorized music.

Conclusion: The Road to Intellectual Property Protection Is Long

The intellectual property protection in the podcast industry still faces many challenges. With the continuous development of technology, new types of infringement are emerging one after another. Podcast creators need to continuously improve their awareness of intellectual property protection, actively seek legal protection, and jointly maintain the healthy development of the industry.

Forward - looking Thinking

With the continuous development of AI technology, the threshold for content creation will be further lowered, which also means that the difficulty of intellectual property protection will be further increased. In the future podcast industry, intellectual property protection will not only be a legal issue but also a technological, commercial, and social issue. How to balance technological development and intellectual property protection will be a difficult problem for the entire industry.