Perpetual Irrevocable License Over Posts

What it is

Users who submit community Posts grant Teachable a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license that includes the right to sublicense to third parties, create derivative works, and distribute Posts for any purpose in any media. This license survives account closure.

Why it matters (compliance & governance perspective)

This provision establishes a license scope that is materially broader than the User Content license granted for Creator course materials, which is non-exclusive and tied to Teachable Services delivery. The Posts license includes derivative works rights, sublicensing to third parties, and no stated termination right, creating an ongoing intellectual property obligation that persists after account termination.

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

Under this clause, any content submitted as a Post to the Teachable community features is licensed to Teachable permanently and irrevocably, including the right to sublicense that content to third parties and prepare derivative works. The agreement does not provide a mechanism for users to revoke or limit this license after submission.

Institutional analysis (regulatory & governance intelligence)

(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: The perpetual irrevocable nature of this license may engage GDPR Article 17 right to erasure for EU-based users, as intellectual property licensing and personal data erasure obligations may conflict where Posts contain personal data. The FTC Act may be engaged if the scope of this license is not adequately disclosed at point of submission. Applicable enforcement authority in the EU would be the relevant national data protection authority; in the US, the FTC. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The license grants sublicensing and derivative works rights over user-generated community content in perpetuity. While perpetual licenses over user-generated content are common in platform contexts, the explicit inclusion of moral rights, derivative works, and third-party sublicensing for any purpose creates broader exposure than licenses limited to platform operation. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU and EEA users may have grounds to request erasure of Posts containing personal data under GDPR notwithstanding the contractual license; the interaction between IP licensing and data subject rights is an area of ongoing regulatory interpretation. UK users face a similar tension under UK GDPR. California users should note that the CCPA right to delete may separately apply to personal data embedded in Posts. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Organizations using Teachable for employee professional development or community engagement should assess whether employee-generated Posts are subject to employer IP ownership policies, and whether granting a perpetual sublicensable license to Teachable for derivative works is consistent with those policies. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams should assess whether the platform's point-of-submission disclosure adequately communicates the perpetual irrevocable sublicensable scope of the Posts license, and whether consent mechanisms for EU users satisfy GDPR standards given the conflict with erasure rights.

Applicable agencies

Provision details

Other risks in this policy

• ACH Debit Authorization Granted to Teachable high
• Class Action Waiver high
• Disputes Resolved by Binding JAMS Arbitration high
• Liability Cap at 12 Months of Fees Paid high
• Limited Student Data Shared with Creators high
• Minor User Age Restriction high