Q: I created, produced and hosted my podcast, Privacy Please back in 2020. My company is trying to claim it as their IP

A: This topic falls under copyright law. Ordinarily, the author (and copyright owner) is the person or persons who

actually creates the work (podcast). However, “Works made for hire” are an exception to this rule. For legal purposes,

when a work is a “work made for hire,” the author is not the individual who actually created the work. Instead, the party (company) that hired the individual is considered both the author and the copyright owner of the work.

Whether a work is a work made for hire is determined by facts in existence at the time the work is created. There are

two situations in which a work made for hire is produced:

(1) when the work is created by an employee as part of the employee’s regular duties; or

(2) when a certain type of work is created as a result of an express written agreement between the creator and a party specially ordering or commissioning the work (such as an independent contractor).

When a work is produced under these conditions, the employer or the party ordering or commissioning the

work is considered the author and copyright owner.

So, you have to ask yourself if the podcasts were created as part of you regular duty of employment.

A: If you created, produced, and hosted your podcast, and your company did not provide any significant resources or support for the podcast, it is unlikely that they have a valid claim to the intellectual property (IP) rights of the podcast.

In general, the creator of a work, such as a podcast, owns the copyright to the work unless they have assigned or licensed the rights to someone else. If you did not sign any agreements or contracts that assigned the IP rights to your company, it is likely that you still own the copyright to the podcast.

However, it is important to review any agreements or contracts that you signed with your company to determine if there are any provisions related to IP ownership or licensing. If you are unsure about the terms of any agreements, it is recommended that you consult with an attorney who specializes in intellectual property law.

If you believe that your company is making an invalid claim to the IP rights of your podcast, you may want to consider taking legal action to protect your rights. This may involve filing a lawsuit to establish your ownership of the copyright or seeking mediation or arbitration to resolve the dispute.

Overall, it is important to protect your intellectual property rights and to seek legal advice if you believe that your rights are being infringed upon.