COURSE CREATORS’ WORST NIGHTMARE:
Putting your time and effort into developing an amazing online course, and then at the drop of a dime someone steals your content and creates their own replica of your course.
Here are a few tips on how you can legally protect your online course:
1. CREATE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Having Terms and Conditions allows you to set ground rules for your participants prior to purchasing the online course. FYI Terms and Conditions are LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACTS between your business and the course participant. If the participant does not consent to these terms, then they will not be able to access the course.
So what provisions shall Terms and Conditions for and online course include ??!
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Notice that your business owns the rights to ALL OF THE CONTENT displayed in the course;
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Notice that the participant shall not reproduce, replicate or copy any of the content without the business’ express permission;
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Notice that the online course shall be used for participants personal use only, AND not for any commercial purposes;
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ANY other ground rules that your heart desires (of course it needs to be legal).
2. COPYRIGHT ALL OF YOUR ORIGINAL CONTENT AND PUT A COPYRIGHT NOTICE ON YOUR WORK.
Copyright ALL of your original content and put a copyright notice on your work. The copyright notice shall be similar to this: © 2018 YOUR BUSINESS NAME. All Rights Reserved. This puts all course participants on notice that your work is protected by copyright. And in the event you determine someone is stealing your content … do not panic ! You can first send a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice to the website or host provider where the stolen content is hosted. Majority of host providers have strict guidelines they adhere to when receiving DMCA takedown notices, thus it is likely that they will remove the copied content from their site. However in the event that the website does not comply with your DMCA takedown wishes, you may either bring an action of Copyright Infringement, or Breach of Contract (contract = the Terms and Conditions they agreed to when purchasing your e-course).
BEFORE you release that online course, take these steps. Trust me, it will stop these CONTENT THIEVES in their tracks and save you the heartache in the long run!
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?!
Lets chat, if you want to make the move to protect your online course: https://unorthodoxlegal.as.me/schedule.php
