In 2020, we’ve learnt that you can do almost anything online. We’ve seen many businesses adapt, adjust and move onto an online platform. However, you might want to protect your online course content and intellectual property.

Whether you’re a yoga instructor, business coach, or anything in between, you’ll no doubt be concerned about uploading your intellectual property (IP) online. You may be wondering whether it’s still possible to protect your valuable IP and regulate your liability from afar.

While it’s definitely more difficult to control the use of your content when it’s provided online, the good news is, you can still protect your business. You just need a clear Online Course Agreement.

What Is An Online Course Agreement?

An Online Course Agreement sets out the details of the course you’re providing as well as the terms on which it will be provided. It’s important to have clear terms in place because these will inform your clients’ expectations of the course and will also protect your course content and regulate your liability as the course service provider. 

In traditional face-to-face environments, course service providers can see their clients interacting with the course content. When using an online platform, the lack of visibility means that it’s more difficult to ensure that your content is being used in the ways in which you have intended. There is a risk that your IP may be stolen or republished without permission or that it may be misused against your advice.

To protect your IP and also regulate your liability, course service providers should have a clear Online Course Agreement with each client participating in the online course. This agreement sets out how clients can use the information and also states that the provider retains the IP rights in the content.

What’s Included?

As well as protecting your IP and liability, an Online Course Agreement will also cover practical and logistical details that are important to clarify before clients participate in an online course:

  • Payment clauses
  • Term and termination
  • Scope of services
  • Liability protections
  • Intellectual property ownership
  • Confidentiality

If you collect clients’ personal information as part of course registration, it’s also a good idea to have a Privacy Policy in place. Our Privacy Policies are consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles and discloses how your business handles your clients’ personal information.

Need Help? 

Whether you’re thinking about moving your existing course online or have just developed a specifically online course, we’d be more than happy to help you draft an Online Course Agreement.

We will draft the agreement so that it is specific enough to suit your unique business needs but also flexible enough to make sure you can reuse the agreement with each client you work with.

We focus on simple drafting so that the agreement is easy for both you and your clients to understand!

Feel free to get in touch either at team@sprintlaw.com.au or at 1800 730 617.

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Sprintlaw's expert lawyers make legal services affordable and accessible for business owners. We're Australia's fastest growing law firm and operate entirely online.

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