Copyright and intellectual property

Who owns what you create in iQualify courses and your obligations when using others' works

Caitlin Foran avatar
Written by Caitlin Foran
Updated over a week ago

Very broadly speaking, when you're creating course content, you'll either be creating your own things or wanting to use things other people have created. We'll look at these two instances in a bit more detail below.

Things you create

iQualify makes no claims on intellectual property. So, everything you create in iQualify remains yours. This includes things like text, tasks and videos you record into iQualify.

But, you might also be uploading things you've made - images, interactives (quizlet, answer garden, tolks etc.). For the most part, these should be your intellectual property too. However, some apps (especially free ones) will say that anything you create in that app, they have access to. This doesn't mean you can't use these things in your course, it generally just means the app can access or use what you create (or associated data). If you want to be sure, check the terms and conditions of that particular app. 

Things others have created

If you want to use something that someone else has created, you need to check the copyright or license of that thing.

Usually when someone creates an original work, they hold the copyrights to that thing. This means they can say how or if someone else can use what they've created. Where an author gives someone else permission to use something they've made, this is called licensing. In the image below you'll see some of the common licenses.

Image by Shaddim; original CC license symbols by Creative Commons; retrieved from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Creative_commons_license_spectrum.svg

You'll likely be using works that are copyright free (in the public domain or CC0) or that require you to attribute the author (BY). 

With attributions, you can often either attribute in-line with the particular work in these ways:

  • For images, use the copyright field when you insert an image in iQualify.

  • For other works, we suggest putting the attribution in as a reference so it doesn't distract the learner too much.

Or, for a less-cluttered look, you can collect the attributions in one place (e.g. the last page of a course). 

Places to find works you can use

There's a growing number of repositories and sites with images and other resources you can just go ahead and use (possibly with attribution).

Summary

In summary, things you create, remain yours. But... you should check the terms and conditions of any apps or interactives you embed.

If you want to use things others have created, check the license and permissions and if in doubt, contact the author and ask. Alternatively, search the copyright-free or public domain sources.

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