“Who owns the copyright to my podcast if I have a guest on and we both talk? Do I own the whole copyright or does my guest own the copyright for everything she says and I own the copyright for the stuff I say? Do I need permission to sell or distribute the podcast?”
If this is your podcast and the guest is not part of the original broadcasting team, then the first owner of the copyright of this podcast would be you. (See Section 24 of the Copyright Act). For all radio/podcasts/communication forms of works, the broadcaster that makes the broadcast is the copyright owner. To ensure you avoid any legal issues, however, it is prudent to obtain a release for any guest that appears on a podcast, on a TV interview, as an extra in a movie, etc.
The Queen’s Film & TV Research Group are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice! For more information on copyright law, please see the Copyright Law section of this site. Find out more about Queen’s Law on their website, and Pro Bono Queen’s at the PBSC Queen’s site.