Call Her Daddy's intellectual property fight, explained

You might be seeing headlines about Call Her Daddy – one of the biggest podcasts in the world.

That’s because the show’s previous co-host, Sofia Franklyn, has released a memoir, where she details the breakdown in her business partnership with Alex Cooper.

The breakdown of that business deal all centred around intellectual property.

So, what does that actually mean?

Background

Cooper and Franklyn started Call Her Daddy in 2018, when they were roommates in New York.

The conversations on the podcast initially centred on sex and dating.

One month after its first episode, a digital media company called Barstool Sports (founded by Dave Portnoy) acquired the podcast.

As part of that deal, Barstool owned the intellectual property (IP).

Pause.

What does IP mean?

Intellectual property

For a content or media business, IP is incredibly valuable.

It is the legal rights people and businesses have over the things they create.

For Call Her Daddy, the IP included their podcast, branding, merch etc.

Whoever owned that IP could control how it was used and how it was monetised.

If Cooper and Franklyn left Barstool, they couldn’t take Call Her Daddy with them, because they didn’t own that IP.

When Barstool acquired the IP to Call Her Daddy, the podcast was relatively small.

Within two months, its audience grew to two million listens per episode.

This led to conversations about the control and compensation Cooper and Franklyn had (or didn’t have).

Less than two years into their Barstool contract, Cooper and Franklyn wanted to renegotiate their deal.

As well as a raise, they wanted the IP.

This is where things broke down.

Deal breakdown

Portnoy offered the hosts ownership of the IP in exchange for staying with Barstool for a set period.

Cooper and Franklyn did not agree with each other on how they should respond to that deal.

Cooper agreed with it, but Franklyn did not (partly because Barstool would still own its alcohol sponsorship rights).

Cooper decided to meet with Portnoy individually, and she signed the deal, making her the sole owner of the IP.

Franklyn was no longer part of Call Her Daddy.

Since then...

Since then, Cooper has been the sole owner of Call Her Daddy, which last year was Spotify’s fourth top podcast.

Cooper has brought the podcast under Unwell, a media company she co-founded with her husband, Matt Kaplan.

Now, Franklyn has released a memoir, ‘Daddy Issues’, in which she outlines her side of the story.

Amongst several other claims, Franklyn alleges that Cooper was secretly paid more than her during their time at Barstool.

Cooper has not responded to the allegations in the memoir.