Who owns “podcast”?

I wasn’t going to comment on what’s going on right now in the podcasting community, but the more I sit here and think about it, the more I feel like I might have something to say. Or at least something to type. You be the judge.

For those of you who haven’t heard, Apple has sent a cease and desist letter to the company known currently as Podcast Ready. Apple is claiming that the term “podcast” in their company name is infringing upon Apple’s iPod trademark. Way to go Apple.

Now, the TechCast Weekly is, in fact, a podcast. It is a podcast only because that is the generally accepted name for the type of programming that you are listening to each week. An mp3 audio file that is linked to from within an RSS feed, allowing for subscriptions and automatic updating of new items placed in that feed. That is the essence of a podcast.

Apple didn’t coin the term “podcast”. That honor belongs to Danny Gregoire from a discussion way back in 2004. In my mind, and I’m not a lawyer by any stretch of the imagination, that gives Danny the only real claim to a trademark on anything related to the term “podcast”. Not Apple.

And why is Apple griping so much? Most people hear the term “podcast” or “podcasting” and automatically think you have to have an i”Pod” to listen to one. Which is, of course, not the cast. So it is left up to the slew of podcasters the world over to explain to people what a podcast really is. Not that we mind, since we usually get to plug our shows in the process.

Leo Laporte says that we should use the term “netcast”. Which to me is just as confusing as “podcast” by implying that you have to be “on the ‘net” to listen. Meaning that you can’t download the shows and listen to them on the go. (Not that I have anything against Leo, he’s pretty much the man as far as I’m concerned)

I think Apple is just trying to get their piece of the proverbial pie of podcasting. They want everyone to believe that you need an iPod to listen to a podcast, meaning more sales of the iPod.

If you guys want to sell more iPods, improve the product. Give us Wi-Fi! Leave the content that is placed on the iPod to the over 50,000 podcasters already hard at work. We’ve got it under control.

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