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Copyright Basics: How to Protect Your Work from Piracy (Udemy.com)

Protect your most valuable asset - your intellectual property.

4.2
972 reviews

Created by: Len Smith

Last updated April 2018

Our take

Based on the ratings of 972 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in April 2018. No course pays to be reviewed.

This is a short overview of copyright for people who make things: writers, photographers, designers, musicians and small site owners. It runs about 68 minutes across 11 lectures, with one main section and a brief conclusion, and it has no quizzes or exercises. Len Smith is a copywriter and marketer, and he teaches from his own business experience. It covers the copyright symbol, how copyright differs from patents and trademarks, registration, and how to get a copycat to stop without going to court.

Reviewers like the pace and tone. They call it brief, relaxed and free of legal jargon, with useful PDF notes, and several say Len explains things simply. Some who started with shallow knowledge came away feeling confident. The complaints are fair ones. One reviewer found the conclusion abrupt. Another said half the course was notes rather than video and doubted the instructor's expertise. A third felt it was too short to justify paying, though they said it would have been fine as a free course. The last update was April 2018.

Of 972 ratings, most are four or five stars, averaging 4.2, and about 14,400 students have enrolled. That fits a course that does a small job well. It teaches the vocabulary and busts the common myths, such as the idea that copyright police exist. It will not replace a lawyer, and the age of the material means current rules should be checked elsewhere. As a first hour on the topic, it's a fair pick. For depth, look elsewhere.

Best forFreelance creatives and small site owners who want a quick, jargon-free grounding in copyright before talking to anyone.
Skip it ifYou need legal advice or detailed rules for a specific country; this is a one hour overview.

Pros

  • About 68 minutes in total, so it is easy to finish in a single sitting
  • Reviewers say the explanations are simple and free of legal jargon
  • Includes a real case study of getting a copycat to stop without going to law
  • Downloadable PDF notes back up the videos, which reviewers found useful

Cons

  • The main section runs only about 25 minutes, so depth is limited
  • Last updated in 2018, so newer rules may not be covered
  • Some reviewers found the conclusion abrupt and the notes heavy for the price
A brief but detailed overview of the subject, delivered well and succinct. Useful PDF documents to support the learning. Good course.
Paul Clare, a student

Beginner fits. There are no requirements, and reviewers with shallow prior knowledge say the plain language worked.

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What you will learn

  • In this course you will learn the basics necessary to protect your work from piracy – including how to create the copyright symbol © on your PC or Mac
  • The difference between copyright, patenting and trade mark protection. Why protecting a product design is different from a graphic design.
  • The ins and outs of registering copyright
  • The misconceptions - and there are lots!
  • How to find out if someone has already registered a trademark
  • How the music industry and book publishers are protecting themselves against internet Pirate sites
  • How, even as a one-man band, you can get someone who infringes your copyright to desist - without going to law.

Course content

2 sections · 11 lectures · 1.1 hours of video 1 article

  1. 1Copyright protection 2 free previews9 lectures · 25 min
  2. 2Conclusion1 lecture

Who it is for

The instructor says it suits

  • Anyone who wishes to protect their creative work from piracy – writers, artists, graphic designers, website owners and developers, photographers, musicians, start-ups.

What you need before you start

  • None

How it compares

Against the other 1,210 rated Udemy courses in Business on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.2 out of 5higher than 9% of them
  • Reviews972#462 of 1,211 by number of reviews
  • Length1.1 hoursshorter than 86% of them
  • Last updatedApril 2018earlier than 93% of them

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Course Description

You’re an artist… a graphic designer… you’re writing a book… you’ve developed a website, you’re a photographer, you’ve recorded some great music.. .. you’re a start-up.

In that case, you really need to understand how to protect your intellectual property. It could be your most valuable asset- and the easiest to steal.

Someone breaks into Coca Cola’s premises and steals a truck. That’s easy to sort out. A truck is physical. Coca Cola owned the truck, they taxed it, they registered it. They even insured it against theft.

Intellectual property

Your photos. Your designs. Your novel. Your music composition are your intellectual property, so you need to understand the basics of copyright protection.

What will you learn in this Copyright Basics: How to Copyright?

  • The really basic stuff, like how to type a Copyright symbol © on your computer – you know, the little C in a circle in this copyright basics course.
  • The difference between copyright, patenting and trade mark protection. Why protecting a product design is different from a graphic design.
  • The ins and outs of registering copyright – and I’ll explain the dangers in using what’s called ‘Poor man’s Copyright’
  • I’ll reveal all the misconceptions - and there are lots! For example – THERE IS NO EQUIVALENT of the Drugs Enforcement Agency. There ARE no copyright cops. There is no authority that will sort out disputes for you
  • How to find out if someone has already registered a trademark
  • How the music industry and book publishers are protecting themselves against internet Pirate sites.

And I’ll show you how, even as a one-man band, you can get someone who infringes your copyright to desist - without going to law.

In fact, I’ll share a real-life Case Study where another writer copied my own website - wholesale. How I stopped her in one day flat.

AND, I’ll give you lots of really useful links. Plus some interesting anecdotes and history about copyright to amuse you along the way.

Take this Copyright Basics: course right now and learn how to copyright your intellectual property.

Read More Beginner Beginner Level product length iconTime: 1.1h

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Instructor Details

Len Smith

For the past 20 odd years Len has run his own business, Copywriting On Demand and manages The-Writers-Guru.

He works from home, writing copy for organisations around the world - and lots of them have become personal friends.

With forty years' experience in marketing, he spent three years in Paris responsible for IBM product marketing in 14 countries across EMEA.

His biggest market is the USA, followed by the UK, the Arab states and the Netherlands. His business comes via the web and his website attracts more than 1,000 visits a day.

Clients are as diverse as Vodafone, The Finance Leasing Association, Lloyds, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the BBC, a number of multinational pharmaceutical companies - even a TV 'Secret Millionaire'.

Married for more than 50 years (a world record?) he has three sons.

He lives in a rambling old vicarage in Yorkshire that has the distinction of having been built by the Brönte sisters’ Uncle Fennel. Charlotte’s earliest recorded letter was written from the vicarage during one of the children’s brief holidays there.

His interests have included competitive rallying (including an attempt at the Monte Carlo Rally and the Paris Marrakesh), and paragliding. These days he is content with art and opera.

Vacation time aside, Len aims to answer student queries within hours.

Read More

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Reviews

4.2

972 ratings on Udemy

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By Akash Tiwari on 3/31/2026

not good material

By Anna Forderhase on 4/5/2022

Teacher was informative, but lesson was too short and not helpful enough for $15. Teacher mentioned in the first video the lesson was free, so with that mindset, it is a great course! But for Udemy's charge of $15, not worth it at all.

By Paul Reinking on 7/29/2021

I learned a lot in a short amount of time and now feel confident with my level of knowledge in this space. This course helped me do that... Hope that it meets your needs.

By A Bradbury on 5/25/2016

Quite a nice concise overview of the subject delivered in a relaxed style. I would only say I found the conclusion a little abrupt, as I had expected a short personal summary as well as the downloadable conclusion file. But a good short course on the subject.

By Bill Meagher on 9/27/2015

The course is a good primer for anyone contemplating the creative process. It is, as Len makes a point of saying, not by any meanstmeant to be a legal 'last word'. But it is informative, concise and a perfect layman's guide to protecting your work, be it written, audio or video. The PDf notes accompanying the presentation are clear and easily understood. I would unhesitatingly recommend it for aspiring writers or tech producers.

By Serge Hulne on 9/16/2015

Excellent introduction to copyright (theory and practice). Very clear concise and to the point. No unnecessary abstract digressions about the fine-grained details of copyright law, instead lots of practical tips about how to prevent copyright infringements and whom to contact in case of copyright violation.

By Shameer Mohammed on 6/16/2014

The course outlines the basics of copyright law. This is a quick and easy to follow course. The author of the course is very quick in responding to your queries. Highly recommended course. Please be aware that this does not cover Trademarks and Patents (as the title suggests).

By Simon Carr on 4/10/2014

Great course, the only course I have ever studied from start to finish. Informative and useful. Best of all is the downloadable pdf of accompanying notes to each lecture. I particularly like the 'cease and desist' letter for breaches of copyright. I have given this course a deserved 5 star rating, but would like to add a '+' to it and recommend it to anyone in need of protection information for their intellectual property.

By Melany Howard on 1/19/2014

I would recommend this short course for anyone that needs a good overview of the Copyright basics. Len Smith did an excellent job of explaining what a copyright is and how to go about making your intellectual property safer by using the copyright.

By Retha Groenewald on 10/23/2013

I have a legal background and I thought copyrighting is a boring, essential topic, UNTIL I enrolled to Len Smith's course on copyrighting. This is my second course of his, and I hope not my last. He explains what copyrighting is in easy, understandable steps. He also gives the practical application. .

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Overall Score : 84 / 100

Copyright Basics: How to Protect Your Work from Piracy
Visit course on Udemy Write a review
  • Video Duration: icon 1.1h
  • Price: $13.99
  • Provider: icon Udemy
  • Updated: icon April 2018
  • Level: Beginner Beginner
  • Language: icon English
  • Certificate: icon Yes
  • Lectures:11 in 2 sections
  • Students:14,400
  • Subtitles:1 language
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