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Podcasters may unexpectedly find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Copyrights, attribution, fair use, inducement, defamation and privacy are just a few of the issues which must be finessed to avoid ending up in hot water. Luckily, Colette Vogele and her colleagues have published an excellent, free guide for podcasters on their legal rights and responsibilities. Denise Howell sits down with Vogele to discuss this 'participatory law' project which helps demystify the legal dangers raised by the blossoming of audio and video podcasting.
Inspired by the EFF Legal Guide for Bloggers, the Podcasting Legal Guide grew out of Vogele's fellowship at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, in collaboration with Harvard's Berkman Center. While there are similarities between the issues facing bloggers and podcasters, audio, and especially video, raise their own set of concerns that are hotly debated. The wiki version of the Podcasting Legal Guide allows for discussion and revision as needed to keep pace with new developments.
By definition, RSS distribution creates copies, potentially raising intellectual property claims on anything included in a podcast. Infringing use of copyrighted music is probably the number one legal challenge facing podcasters, according to Vogele. Finding "podsafe" material is important, but should the hobbiest be held to the same standard as a corporate production? As technologies blur into each other, who is to decide? The FCC? The RIAA? Congress? Asserting a podcaster's own rights is also tricky. Creative Commons licenses and embedded usage agreements are possible approaches, but it's unclear exactly who sees these statements and how they apply.
Rounding out the discussion, Vongele suggests a possible spinoff guide for podcasters in the academy. As podcasting is taking off in the classroom, educators are bound by additional sets of rules and regulations. This talk, as well as several podcasts mentioned within, are great resources for anyone interested in intellectual property and on-line media.
Colette Vogele heads the firm Vogele & Associates advising individuals, businesses, and non-profit organizations on a range of intellectual property questions (including copyright, trademark, trade secret, patent, and privacy issues) as they relate to technology, new media and the arts. As a fellow, she has recently completed co-authoring the Podcasting Legal Guide: Rules for the Revolution.
During the 2004-2005 academic year, Vogele held a residential fellowship and led litigation on two of the Center's copyright cases: Golan v. Gonzalez, a case challenging the constitutionality of removing thousands of works from the public domain, and Somma v. Great Ormond Street Hospital, a case defending an author's right to build on works that have entered the public domain.
Prior to joining the Center, Vogele litigated copyright, trademark, anti-counterfeiting, and trade secret misappropriation cases at Preston Gates & Ellis LLP. She also worked with Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP in Silicon Valley litigating patent and trade secret disputes in technical fields including medical devices, semiconductors packaging, circuit simulation software, and DVD technology.
Vogele grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is an Honors Program graduate in Political Science from the University of Washington. She earned her law degree with honors at George Washington University Law School where she was the Executive Articles Editor for the American Intellectual Property Law Association Quarterly Journal, held two internships with the United States Department of Justice, and externed for a United States Magistrate Judge.
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This program is from our Sound Policy with Denise Howell series.
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