copyright
Copyright implications of creating transcripts?
<p>I'm playing around with the idea of transcribing some of my favourite podcasts and recorded talks, putting them up on a website and accepting donations from users to hopefully help support some of the costs.</p>

<p>What are the legal implications of doing this? Am I even allowed to publish the transcriptions without permission?</p>

<p>I'm in Aus but happy to hear US advice as most of the content I'm interested in is from there anyway.</p>

<p>Podcasts and recorded talks are protected by copyright, because they have already been put in fixed form. An extemporaneous radio text (e.g. from a dial-in talk show) does not have fixed form, until someone makes it permanent (audio-records it or writes the text down). A transcript of a podcast is a derivative work, and only the copyright owner can authorize creating a derivative work. So yes, permission is necessary.</p>
