4 Legal Tips for Launching Your Online Course
AND HOW THEY PROTECT YOU
I conducted a poll with everyone on my email list and Instagram account last week. And the responses were overWHELMing.
That poll?
WHAT DO YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR 2025?
The options?
➡️ COACHING! I want all of the contracts I need to take on clients in various settings — one-on-one, group coaching, single sessions.
➡️ SCALE! I plan to launch a course and/or membership to build my online business and want to feel protected when I do.
The winner?
You are, without a doubt, planning for SCALE in 2025.
And that means memberships, courses, and templates. So today, I’m digging into my 4 legal tips for launching an online course.
I’m Maria Spear Ollis, aka The Lunar Lawyer, and I’m going to shine some light on four legal tips for launching your online course.
Thing 1: Add a copyright notice to all of your stuff.
What goes in a copyright notice?
A copyright notice has three things:
The © (or the word “Copyright”)
The year your course was published
The name of the copyright owner. (⬅️ that’s probably you.)
And that order matters. If it’s not right, it doesn’t count.
Example of a correct copyright notice
Here’s an example of a proper copyright notice:
© 2025 Maria Spear Ollis.
What a copyright notice does
Popping a copyright notice on your creative materials makes it clear that your work is protected by copyright. A copyright notice also makes it impossible for someone to claim “innocent infringement” and get out of paying mega copyright damages!
Where in my course materials should I put a copyright notice?
At the bottom of every page of a workbook and underneath every video (or as a watermark in the video itself).
You should also have a copyright notice at the bottom of your website and the sales page for your course. (If you need a free disclaimer and copyright notice for your website, I’ve got you covered here!)
Thing 2: Make sure you actually own your course content.
The default rule for copyright ownership
This is a hugely misunderstood aspect of copyright law. (And if you feel called out by this, know that you’re not alone — so many business owners are unaware.)
Contractors, by default, own the copyright in whatever they create.
Yes, even if you pay them.
Yes, even if they verbally agreed “you have 100% of the rights to my photos, or footage, or graphics, or website copy…”
If someone is creating content for you, you don’t own it unless there’s a signed, written document that says so.
What can happen without a written independent contractor agreement
You need an independent contractor agreement so that your contractor can’t come back and claim ownership of that content after, say, you’ve had a ton of sales.
Obviously, a good independent contractor agreement should confirm that anything your contractor creates for you is unequivocally (and irrevocably). your property.
And if you have some gaps in protections, I invite you to explore The Legal Apothecary™ — my library of contracts specifically for coaches, healers, and experts, healers, and spiritual entrepreneurs.
Thing 3: Put rules in place for your students (…ahead of time)
If you have rules around how your students can and can’t use the content inside your course (and you should), then tell your students what those rules are so the rules can be followed!
If you don’t want them to share screen shots of your content on social media, tell them.
If you don’t want them to be able to use your course as some sort of certification to teach others, tell them.
If there’s a group component to your course and you want to be clear that if they’re not courteous, they’ll be kicked out, tell them.
And your students should agree to those rules before they purchase, like in a checkbox that contains your Course Terms and Conditions.
One more thing: make it easy for them. If you use a platform like Circle or Kajabi, link to your Terms or list those do’s and dont’s. Set your students up for success.
Thing 4: Register Your Course With the Copyright Office
Benefits of copyright registration
Copyright registration gives you a ton of benefits. The best benefits to registering your course with the Copyright Office??
It creates a public record of your ownership;
It gives you the right to recover your attorneys' fees if someone copies. you.
It entitles you to "statutory damages" (between $750 and $300,000 per work that’s infringed).
How to register an online course with the Copyright Office
The Copyright Office website has a ton of tutorials. Check them out here.
Exploring Copyright Registration services with The Lunar Lawyer
Don’t feel like DIY’ing? Check out my a la carte copyright registration package here.
Conclusion
Courses are an incredible way to scale your business. These are my four top tips on launching your online course legally. Good luck!