Developing A Copyright Policy or Guidelines Online Course

Developing a Copyright Policy or Guidelines is a unique hands-on, eight-lesson eTutorial where you complete a draft copyright policy or guidelines with our guidance.

This course will next be offered in the spring of 2026!

Registration Fee: $499 US

This is the course for you if:

• You've been meaning to write or update a copyright policy or guidelines but never have the time
• You're unsure how to start your copyright compliance document
• You need encouragement, feedback and a personal touch to complete or update your copyright policy or guidelines

By reviewing each lesson in Developing a Copyright Policy or Guidelines and completing your assignments with feedback from Erin Gurski, you'll complete this course with a draft copyright policy, guidelines or best practices.

Once you register, you can immediately begin this course and start drafting your copyright policy or guidelines at your own pace. We'll gently guide you through the process.

Working on your own schedule in our easy-to-use online learning system, you'll have access to the course materials for eight weeks and can download the lessons for future reference. The expected time to complete this course is 14 to 18 hours.

As always, our personal touch remains a hallmark of our copyright education. We’ll continue to work with you to help you schedule learning time in your busy and perhaps disrupted schedule, and provide extensions where necessary. Our goal is to encourage and assist you in completing this course.

All of Copyrightlaws.com’s courses are aimed at empowering nonlawyers to deal with copyright and licensing issues. See our FAQs on how eTutorials work.

Facts About This Course

• Developing a Copyright Policy or Guidelines is a hands-on course in which you develop and write a draft copyright compliance policy, guidelines or best practices. You'll be asked to prepare a series of short assignments which will be the basis for your final assignment, a draft copyright policy or guidelines
• Some knowledge of copyright law is required
• This course isn't country specific — each lesson contains resources and sample documents from the U.S., Canada, the UK and global content

Syllabus for Developing a Copyright Policy or Guidelines

You'll receive a Certificate of Completion at the end of the eTutorial.

Benefits of Taking Developing a Copyright Policy or Guidelines

After taking Developing a Copyright Policy or Guidelines you'll be able to:

• Identify the role of a copyright policy or guidelines in your organization
• Understand the components that will make copyright compliance in your organization a reality
• Complete a draft copyright policy or guidelines specific to your organization's needs

More Testimonials for This Course

This course forced me to do more “on my own” thinking, which is more powerful than hand-holding. I wanted a final guideline at the end of this course and ended up with a draft guideline, a bucketful of company-specific questions to answer, and an intention to pull together a copyright team. That’s an excellent outcome. Thanks to this course, we'll likely propose new approaches to copyright/licensing/permissions processes.
— Developing a Copyright Policy or Guidelines Participant (November 2017)

This course has been tremendously helpful in showing me crucial components for a copyright policy. It has helped me organize what’s needed in a copyright document, who needs to be involved from our staff, and has provided me with great examples of policy documents. Thank you!
— Erin Beasley, Digital Image Rights and Reproduction Specialist, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute (October 2017)

A super course. I appreciated getting your prompt feedback after posting my assignments.
— Lynn Hughes, Library Technician, Copyright, College of the Rockies Library, British Columbia, Canada

Thank you very much [for instructing Developing A Copyright Policy]. This course has forced us to put down on paper what we need to move copyright forward in our institution.
— Patricia Sutherland, Library Manager, College of the North Atlantic, Qatar

Who Should Enroll in This Course?

Developing a Copyright Policy or Guidelines is ideal for anyone who needs to have consistent rules for applying copyright law in their organization. If you've tried to write your first copyright policy and haven't been able to complete it or need to update an outdated policy, this is the course for you.

Is This Course Based on U.S. Copyright Law?

No, this course is about having the right tool for managing copyright and copyright compliance — a written copyright policy or guidelines — and isn't based on any one country's copyright laws. Many examples of copyright compliance are included in the lessons with an emphasis on U.S., Canadian and UK resources. As you apply the short assignments in this course to your own organization's needs, you'll find the course beneficial regardless of what country you're in.

Is This Course Aimed at Librarians?

Although many librarians participate in this course, it's ideal for any individual or organization. Every for- or nonprofit institution or organization would benefit from a written copyright policy or guidelines.

Why Does Every Organization Need a Copyright Policy?

Having a copyright policy is an important part of copyright management, and can help your organization minimize its copyright risks. However, often the reasons for implementing a new copyright compliance document are more situational. For example:

• A recent lawsuit in your industry has management and employees concerned about legal uses of copyright materials
• Your use of images and other third-party content has increased and you want to keep your copyright risks to a minimum
• Senior management is requesting a more consistent approach to how you comply with copyright law, interpret fair use, and legally use global content

If you're looking for more in-depth knowledge of applying copyright to your every day situations, consider our Copyright Leadership Certificate program, designed to empower nonlawyers to manage copyright and licensing issues.