Online Course Piracy: Preventive Measures Every Creator Should Know

"You won’t believe what just happened…"

Imagine spending months creating a signature program, pouring your heart and soul into every lesson, only to find out that someone signed up, copied everything — even the thumbnails — and is now selling it at a fraction of your price.

Sounds frustrating, right?

Well, this isn’t just a nightmare scenario, it’s reality for many course creators. So how do you protect your hard work from pirates?

Let’s talk about some smart moves you can make to guard your content.

Recently, someone signed up for my client's signature program, copied all the content (even the thumbnails), and started selling it at a significantly lower price in the market.

After discussing this incident with my client and researching the topic, we realized that while you can't entirely stop the piracy of digital content, there are several preventive measures you can take to protect your online courses.

Here are a few actionable steps to consider:

1. Monitor Login Activity: Track the number of login attempts by each student. If you notice an unusually high number of attempts, it could indicate suspicious behavior. In such cases, immediately restrict their access and investigate further.

2. Clear Terms and Conditions: Ensure your terms and conditions are transparent and detailed, outlining the consequences of unauthorized distribution. Add a mandatory checkbox on your checkout page requiring users to accept these terms before they can complete their purchase.

3. Legal Protection for High-Ticket Programs: For premium or high-ticket programs, have students sign a contract before they gain access. This provides you with a legal safeguard and adds a layer of seriousness that may deter potential pirates.

4. Watermark Your Content: Add watermarks with the buyer’s name or email address to video lessons, PDF handouts, or any downloadable material. This makes it much easier to trace the source if your course content is illegally distributed.

5. Limit Downloads and Access: Where possible, limit the number of downloads or prevent them altogether. Use streaming for videos rather than allowing students to download them, and ensure you have DRM (Digital Rights Management) tools in place to protect your content.

6. Use Unique Access Codes or Links: Implement unique access codes for each student that expire after a set amount of time or upon completion of the course. This reduces the risk of one code being shared or sold to others.

7. Address It Publicly: If piracy occurs, post about it on your social media channels and notify your audience. Let them know that your original content is being sold elsewhere at a reduced price and emphasize the importance of purchasing directly from your official site. This also helps to alert and educate your audience on identifying authentic content.

8. Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Adding MFA to your course login ensures an extra layer of security. This can prevent unauthorized users from accessing the course, even if they’ve obtained the login credentials.

9. Copyright Your Content: Copyright is the legal protection granted to creators for their original works, including videos, images, and written content. As soon as you create your course material, it is automatically protected by copyright law, but officially registering it gives you stronger legal standing if someone steals or distributes your content without permission.

This protection allows you to take legal action against pirates, potentially getting them to cease distribution and even seek damages. By ensuring your course is copyrighted, you can safeguard your intellectual property and deter potential pirates from infringing on your rights.

Piracy is a frustrating reality for many course creators, but taking these steps can help you protect your content and minimize the risk.

I hope this information was helpful.

If you need any help with launching your courses online, click here to book a 30 mins FREE consultation call with me.