Intellectual Property Policy

 

This policy forms part of our Terms and Conditions and is intended to answer questions that you may have. If there are conflicts between the two then the Terms and Conditions prevail. 

 

We provide tools to change the future.

 

de Bono was established to develop, promote and license the works of Dr. Edward de Bono to achieve this purpose. Edward de Bono Ltd, trading as “de Bono”, owns the Intellectual Property (IP) in ‘de Bono’, ‘Six Thinking Hats’, ‘Parallel Thinking’ and other trademarks and in the copyrights in the works originated by Edward de Bono. 

 

This Policy describes how we permit others to use our IP and explains the types of use that require the purchase of additional licenses. Thank you for reading this policy: our ability to achieve our purpose as an organisation depends on people respecting and complying with it. 

 

What is Intellectual Property?

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The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) defines intellectual property as the creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create.

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Copyright law gives the copyright owner the exclusive right to control the use of copyright protected works. All of the material published in Dr. de Bono books, training manuals, seminars, videos and on our websites ( debono.network, Six-Thinking-Hats.com, deBono.com and LateralThinking.com) and our training partners websites are protected by copyright law and should only be used as set out below. Use that is made without our permission may therefore infringe our copyright which can result in personal and corporate liability. Where we state below that something is not allowed or permitted, then to do so is a breach of our terms and conditions: that is, it is a breach of contract, and may also violate copyright law.

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A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. 

 

How may I use de Bono content?

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You may do the following:

• View our content for your personal use on any device that is compatible with our websites (this might be your PC, laptop, smartphone, tablet or other mobile device) and store our content on that device for your personal use;

• Download and print the PDF templates provided as part of our courses; you may also share these templates with your family, the school you teach at or with your work colleagues only. You may not re-publish these templates for use by anyone else.

• Email yourself your own notes taken during the courses via the notepad on our websites, provided that your notes are for your sole benefit.

• Email yourself the output from the ‘MyThoughts’ tool. You may share your output from the MyThoughts’ tool with anyone.

• If you are a teacher, parent or guardian then you may print the student work cards from the de Bono Thinking Lessons found at https://www.debono.com/de-bono-thinking-lessons-1/, in order to use those lessons with your family or the school you are a teacher at; but not for further distribution or commercial use.

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How may I republish or redistribute de Bono content?

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We recognise that users of the Internet may want to share information with others and reference de Bono material in your own work. We therefore permit limited republishing and redistribution of de Bono content as set out below provided that this does not create a Substitute for de Bono’s own products or services and further provided that you do not use one of our trademarks in connection with the Substitute (see below).

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We define a Substitute as a product or service that reduces the need for users or other third parties to pay for de Bono content directly, or which creates revenue from de Bono content to the detriment of de Bono’s own ability to generate revenues from that content.

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As long as you do not create a Substitute, you may do the following:

• Publish online examples of how you have applied the de Bono methods to a problem or opportunity that you have addressed, on the condition that the focus of this description is your application of the method, rather than a lesson on how the method works.

• Create one free to view video of up to two minutes in length summarising one de Bono method, provided that 

  • the final four seconds of the video has the following statement “This video was created by [your name]. The rights in the Intellectual Property of Edward de Bono are retained by Edward de Bono Ltd. You can learn more at deBono.com [with a link to https://www.deBono.com]”. The statement must be clearly readable in large font on its own, without any other images or text in the video. The link must take the user to https://www.deBono.com directly and not trigger any other activity.

  • the video focuses solely on the de Bono method and may not be used to promote or endorse something else. You must not misrepresent your relationship with de Bono or present false information about de Bono. The video must not contain or be part of a service that infringes any intellectual property or other right of any person or that otherwise does not comply with all relevant laws and regulations. The video must not contain content that could be considered distasteful or offensive.

  • if de Bono notifies you that we believe you are creating, republishing or redistributing videos outside of these parameters, you shall immediately cease doing so and your rights to create a video shall be regarded as having been withdrawn, unless/until we reach an agreement with you regarding your use of de Bono IP.

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Am I allowed to copy or summarise limited parts of de Bono content?

 

You may republish or redistribute “extracts” of up to 30 words copied verbatim on the condition that:

• you attribute deBono.com as the origin of the extract, with a hypertext link to https://www.debono.com/

• You don’t republish or redistribute more than three non consecutive extracts, each extract being no more than 30 words each

• you do not use the extracts to promote or endorse any product or service, including using the extracts on any merchandise

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If you wish to copy or summarise more than is permitted here then please contact: 

• either the permissions department of the relevant publisher of Dr. de Bono’s books 

• or for permission to copy or summarise material on any of our websites then please contact info@debono.com

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What am I not permitted to do with de Bono content?

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You cannot do anything other than make use of the content as set out above, unless you buy the appropriate licence (see below for details). By way of example only, this means that you may not republish or redistribute the contents of the training courses or challenges, for example by pasting them into emails or republishing them in any media, including websites, videos, training courses or intranets.

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Am I allowed to reproduce the de Bono trademarks, logo, images or notations?

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The trademarks, logos, images and notations appearing on the Site(s) are owned by us or our licensors including, without limitation, ‘de Bono’, ‘Parallel Thinking’ and ‘Six Thinking Hats’. Other than as set out in the paragraph below, you are not permitted to reproduce the de Bono trademarks, logo, images or notations without written permission from de Bono. Any such use without our written permission may constitute an infringement of our rights.

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Once you have completed a de Bono course via the Site(s), we may provide you with certification or a badge (including in digital form). You may use these solely for the purpose of evidencing the fact you have been trained in the relevant de Bono course. You are not permitted to use them (including the de Bono trademark included in them) in any other way, including to endorse any product or service.

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Am I allowed to share my username, password or passkey?

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Your login credentials are for your sole use. You are not permitted to share your username, password or passkey with anyone else. Sharing a password or passkey means a copy of our content may subsequently be made by someone who is not authorised to do so. Password or passkey sharing is a breach of our terms and conditions and is likely to result in an infringement of copyright. We monitor usage to detect sharing.

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Further questions and licensing

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If you have any questions about the use of de Bono IP, including a specific use that isn’t covered by our policy, then we would be happy to help you. Please contact info@debono.com

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We reserve the right to change our IP policy from time to time by publishing an updated policy here on deBono.com, which shall become effective and replace any previous policy with effect from publication.

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This version of the IP policy was published on 12 November  2021.

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