Prologue

Host Ira Glass and Zoe Chace from NPR’s Planet Money talk with Jim Logan and Richard Baker of Personal Audio, which claims it holds a patent used by all podcasters. Podcasters, they say, owe them money. Only catch: their company never made a digital podcast or invented a way to download it into a listening device. What they did, back in 1996: they patented the idea that such a thing can be done. Now they’ve asked podcasters to pay them licensing fees ... including Adam Carolla, Stuff You Should Know, Jesse Thorn and Marc Maron, who we hear from. Although Personal Audio says they aren’t asking for licenses from non-profits or public radio at this time, Maron’s and Thorn’s podcasts appear on public radio. (7 minutes)