Online Course Copyright: A Practical Checklist for Books, Videos, Images, and Questions

This is general educational information, not legal advice. Copyright questions depend on the work, the intended use, the territory, contracts, licences, and other facts. This article uses U.S. Copyright Office sources, so course creators working elsewhere should check the applicable law in their location. When a planned use is commercially important, high-risk, or unclear, seek advice from a qualified copyright professional.

Online course copyright is easier to manage when it becomes part of your production workflow rather than a last-minute check before publishing. A course can contain several distinct works: your written explanations, slides, recorded lectures, worksheets, photographs, diagrams, music, video clips, assessment questions, answer keys, and learner contributions. Treat each asset as something you either created, licensed, received permission to use, or deliberately excluded.

In the United States, copyright protects original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium, including published and unpublished works. It protects creative expression rather than ideas, methods, systems, concepts, or facts. Writing a lesson script, saving a slide deck, recording a lecture, or taking an original photograph can therefore create material that may be protected; a topic, teaching method, formula, or general learning objective is not protected by copyright in the same way. U.S. Copyright Office: What is Copyright?

Start with an asset register, not assumptions

Before building a module, create a simple asset register. It can be a spreadsheet, database, or project board. The point is to make the source and permission status visible to the people editing, uploading, and marketing the course.

A useful internal status system is: green for original or clearly licensed material; amber for material awaiting documentation or review; and red for material that should not be published until it is replaced, licensed, or cleared.

Checklist: books, articles, and downloadable text

Books, articles, web pages, teaching guides, and other written works can be valuable course inputs, but “available online” does not mean “free to copy into a paid or free course.” Copyright owners generally control copying, adaptation, distribution, public performance, and public display of protected works. Copyright Basics (Circular 1)

• Use your own explanation where possible. Read the source, then write an original summary, example, activity, or interpretation in your own instructional voice.
• Link rather than reproduce when linking meets the learning need. A reading list or direct link may be more appropriate than uploading a scan, chapter, or article copy.
• Do not rely on a fixed percentage or word-count rule. The Copyright Office says there are no legal rules that automatically permit a particular number of words, notes, or percentage of a work. Context matters. U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use FAQ
• Keep quotations purposeful and proportionate. If a short extract is needed for criticism, commentary, or close analysis, identify the source and document why that exact extract is necessary.
• Separate facts from expression. You may teach historical facts, scientific principles, and general ideas, but do not reproduce another author’s distinctive wording, organisation, examples, or explanatory graphics without a suitable basis.

Checklist: videos, clips, recordings, and music

A video lesson can involve more than one layer of rights. Your lecture recording may include the script, slides, visual material, recorded performance, background music, screen captures, and embedded clips. A useful safeguard is to review both what appears on screen and what is audible.

• Film and narrate original demonstrations whenever possible. This gives you more control over reuse and future updates.
• Do not assume an educational purpose makes copying permissible. The Copyright Office notes that fair use is evaluated on all the circumstances, not through a single label such as “education” or “nonprofit.” U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Index
• Remove unplanned third-party material. Check screen recordings for book pages, stock footage previews, copyrighted slides, visible artworks, software media, music, and background television or radio.
• Check the scope of every video or music licence. Confirm it covers online-course use, the relevant audience, territories, length of access, editing, marketing clips, and any revenue-generating use you plan.
• Keep permission in writing. If a guest educator, client, or contributor appears in a lesson, record what may be used, where it may appear, how long it may remain available, and who can edit or reuse the recording.

Fair use is not a course-creation shortcut. U.S. law calls for consideration of four factors: the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality used, and the effect on the potential market for or value of the work. The Copyright Office also states that its Fair Use Index is not a substitute for legal advice. When the use is central to a commercial course, replaces a source learners might otherwise buy or license, or involves a substantial or memorable part of a work, pause for professional review. Read the Fair Use Index and its four-factor overview

Checklist: images, graphics, screenshots, and slide decks

Images are often the fastest way for a course to acquire copyright risk. Original photographs, illustrations, and graphic works can be protected. For photographs, the Copyright Office explains that protection can reflect creative choices such as subject matter, positioning, angle, lighting, and timing. Copyright Registration of Photographs (Circular 42)

• Use images you created, commissioned under a clear agreement, or obtained under a licence that matches the course use.
• Save the licence evidence at the time of download or purchase. Product pages and licence terms can change; record the version you relied on.
• Follow attribution conditions exactly where required. Store the creator name, title, source, licence name, and any required wording in your asset register.
• Treat search-engine results and social-media posts as discovery tools, not permission records. Finding an image does not establish that you have rights to reuse it.
• Review screenshots separately. A screenshot may include copyrightable text, visual design, images, video frames, and other content. Consider whether you can show only what is necessary, recreate a neutral interface example, obtain permission, or direct learners to the original source instead.

Checklist: quiz questions, worksheets, and answer keys

Course creators sometimes overlook questions because they are short. Yet a question bank can involve original wording, a creative selection or arrangement of questions, explanations, scenarios, distractors, marking guidance, and answer material. Copyright does not protect ideas, methods, facts, or systems, but it can protect particular creative expression. U.S. Copyright Office: What Does Copyright Protect?

• Write original question wording and feedback. Base questions on the learning outcome, but avoid copying a publisher’s scenario, phrasing, answer explanation, or distinctive sequence.
• Do not reproduce test-preparation banks without express rights. This is especially important where access is sold, restricted, or governed by a publisher agreement.
• Document co-author contributions. If a tutor writes questions, a subject expert supplies examples, or an editor revises explanations, clarify ownership and reuse rights in writing.
• Protect learner trust. If learners submit work, recordings, or responses that could be reused as examples, obtain an appropriate written permission process and remove identifying details where needed.

Know who owns the course you create

Ownership is not always the same as authorship in everyday conversation. Employment terms, commissioning arrangements, platform terms, school policies, and contributor agreements can affect who may use, edit, license, or sell course assets. In U.S. law, the “work made for hire” concept can have serious consequences and depends on specific conditions; it should not be assumed merely because someone was paid. Works Made for Hire (Circular 30)

Before recording or outsourcing production, ask: Who owns the final video? Who owns the source files? Can the creator reuse slides in another course? Can the school keep using the materials if a teacher leaves? Can a contractor use portfolio excerpts? Who may approve future adaptations? Put the agreed answer in a written contract or policy, then retain it with the asset register.

A pre-publish copyright review in 10 minutes

1. Open the lesson, downloadables, quiz, and promotional copy side by side.
2. Highlight every third-party book extract, image, video clip, logo, audio track, screenshot, and question.
3. Match each highlighted item to an asset-register entry and supporting evidence.
4. Check that the actual use matches the licence or permission: format, audience, commercial context, editing, attribution, and duration.
5. Replace any asset with unclear status rather than hoping it will be acceptable.
6. Check contributor and learner permissions, particularly for names, faces, voices, work samples, and recordings.
7. Archive the version of the course reviewed, the evidence, and the approval date.

Copyright management need not slow down thoughtful teaching. A repeatable register, a short review gate, and clearer contributor agreements can reduce rework while keeping authorship and final educational judgment with the educator. If you are building a course with multiple lessons, resources, and assessments, explore SubSchool for course creators to help organise the repetitive course-production work while you retain control over the teaching decisions.

Practical rule of thumb: if you cannot explain where an asset came from, why you may use it, and where the evidence is stored, do not publish it until you can.