Copyright guidelines

1. Who these guidelines apply to

These guidelines apply to every instructor, teaching assistant, and contributor who publishes course content on Univada — videos, audio, slide decks, PDFs, code, datasets, quizzes, images, music, and any supporting material you upload through the instructor tools or via our content pipeline.

2. What you may include

Material you created yourself

Your own lectures, screen recordings, illustrations, slides, code samples, and writing are the safest and best foundation for a Univada course. You retain ownership of your original work; you grant Univada the license described in the Instructor Terms to host, stream, and distribute it through the platform.

Public-domain material

Works whose copyright has expired, or works released into the public domain by their creator, may be used freely. Public-domain status is jurisdiction-specific — verify the work is public domain in the country where you live and in the markets Univada serves.

Openly licensed material

Creative Commons, MIT, Apache, BSD, and similar open licenses generally allow reuse if you follow the license terms. The most common requirements are attribution (credit the author and link the license), share-alike(your derivative must use the same license), and no commercial use for NC-tagged licenses. Univada courses sold on the platform are a commercial use — do not include CC BY-NC material in paid courses.

Material you have written permission to use

If you obtained a license — for example, stock footage, a music library, a font, an API, a textbook excerpt, or screenshots of a third-party product — keep a copy of the license or written permission. Univada may ask you to produce it.

3. What you may not include

• Copyrighted videos, images, music, or text downloaded from the web without a license.
• Logos, brand marks, mascots, or trade dress of companies you are not affiliated with, used in a way that implies endorsement or partnership.
• Clips ripped from films, TV, paid courses, conference talks, or competitor platforms.
• Stock assets used outside the scope of their license (e.g. an editorial-only image used in a marketing thumbnail).
• Premium fonts you have not licensed for embedding or video use.
• Datasets whose terms of use prohibit redistribution, derivative works, or commercial training.
• Other instructors' slides, exercises, quizzes, or wording — even if rephrased.
• Cracked software, pirated keys, or instructions on how to bypass DRM or licensing.

4. Fair use, fair dealing, and quotation

Many jurisdictions allow limited use of copyrighted material for purposes such as criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. These exceptions are narrow, fact-specific, and jurisdiction-specific — they are not a general right to reuse anything for "educational" purposes.

When you rely on a fair-use / fair-dealing exception, keep the use:

• Minimal — use only the portion required to make your point.
• Transformative — add commentary, analysis, or critique; do not simply re-show the work.
• Attributed — credit the source clearly on screen and in the resource list.
• Non-substitutive — your use must not replace the market for the original.

If your course depends on extended use of someone else's material, get a written license instead of relying on fair use.

5. Attribution requirements

When you use openly licensed or licensed third-party material, attribute it in a way the viewer can see and verify:

• Author or rights-holder name
• Title of the work and a link to the source where possible
• License name and a link to the license text (for open licenses)
• A note describing any changes you made (for derivative works)

Attribution can appear on-slide, in a "Resources" section of the lecture, or in the course resources panel — but it must be present.

6. Trademarks, names, and likenesses

You may refer to a product, company, or brand by name for legitimate educational purposes (e.g. "this lecture covers PostgreSQL"). You may not use a third party's logo, mascot, packaging, or trade dress in a way that suggests they sponsor, endorse, or are partnered with your course or with Univada. Do not use the name, image, voice, or likeness of any real person without their consent.

7. AI-generated and AI-assisted content

If you use generative AI to create images, audio, video, code, or text in your course, you remain responsible for ensuring the output does not infringe third-party rights and that you have the right to use it commercially under the AI tool's terms. Disclose AI-generated assets to your learners when a reasonable viewer would expect to know.

8. Reporting infringement (notice and takedown)

If you believe content on Univada infringes your copyright, send a notice to copyright@univada.com containing:

1. Your full name, address, phone number, and email.
2. A description of the copyrighted work you say has been infringed.
3. The URL(s) on Univada where the allegedly infringing material appears.
4. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized by the rights-holder, its agent, or the law, and that the information in your notice is accurate.
5. Your physical or electronic signature.

We review valid notices promptly, remove or disable access to the material where appropriate, and notify the affected instructor. Instructors who believe a takedown was issued in error may submit a counter-notice using the same address.

9. Repeat infringers

Univada terminates the accounts of instructors and learners who repeatedly infringe the intellectual property rights of others, in accordance with applicable law. Repeated or egregious violations may result in immediate removal of all your courses and forfeiture of pending payouts.

10. Help and questions

If you are not sure whether something is safe to include, ask before you publish. Email copyright@univada.com and our team will help you find a compliant alternative — original work, licensed stock, or open-licensed material — that keeps your course strong and lawful.