Policy

Circle Time Seller Guidelines & Copyright Policy

Last updated: 20 July 2026

Circle Time is a marketplace built by and for early childhood educators in Singapore to buy, sell, and rent teaching resources. This page explains what you can list, whose work it needs to be, and what happens if someone reports a listing for infringing their rights. Every seller agrees to this policy when creating a listing.

1. Who can sell on Circle Time

Anyone can create a seller profile and list resources. We don't require proof of current employment at a preschool or centre to sell — we only ask that what you list is genuinely yours to sell. Educator verification badges (verified phone/email, uploaded credentials, sales history) give buyers extra trust signals about a profile.

2. What you can list

You may list a resource on Circle Time only if one of the following is true:

• You created it yourself, entirely or substantially (worksheets, activity packs, printables, lesson plans, craft templates, digital resources, physical resource kits you made or assembled), and you personally own the commercial rights to it — it was not created as part of your paid work for a preschool, centre, kindergarten, or organisation (see Section 3 below).
• You have an explicit, provable licence to resell the specific item commercially (e.g. you purchased clip art, fonts, or templates with a commercial-use licence, or you have written permission from the rights holder).
• It is in the public domain and free of any trademark restrictions.

If none of the above applies, don't list it.

3. Materials belonging to your centre, employer, or organisation

This is the one we want to be extra clear about.

If you created a resource as part of your job at a preschool, childcare centre, kindergarten, or other organisation — during paid hours, using their templates/branding, or as part of your assigned duties — that resource generally belongs to your employer, not you, even if you were the one who designed it. This is a standard "work-for-hire" principle, and it applies whether or not the resource has your employer's logo on it.

You may not list, sell, or rent on Circle Time:

• Curriculum, lesson plans, or worksheets developed as part of your paid role at a centre.
• Anything bearing a centre, franchise, or organisation's name, logo, or branding.
• Internal materials, templates, or proprietary teaching frameworks belonging to your employer.
• Materials you no longer have the right to use because your employment there has ended.

You may generally list:

• Resources you made independently, in your own time, using your own tools and ideas — even if the subject matter (e.g. a phonics activity or sensory play idea) is common across the early childhood field.
• Resources you created before joining your current centre, if you retained the rights.
• Resources explicitly released to you in writing by your employer (keep that written permission on file — we may ask for it if a dispute comes up).

If you're ever unsure whether something belongs to you or your employer, the safest move is not to list it, or to ask your employer for written permission first.

4. Other content rules

Don't post resources that:

• Include someone else's clip art, fonts, photos, illustrations, music, book excerpts, or characters without a commercial licence.
• Use trademarked brand names, characters, or logos (e.g. licensed cartoon characters, branded toy names) without permission.
• Include the names, photos, or personal information of children, parents, or staff without consent.
• Are misleading about what's included, or advertise something different from what's delivered.
• Duplicate a listing you've already posted, or price something higher on Circle Time than you charge elsewhere for the same item.

5. Reporting a listing that infringes your rights

If you believe a listing on Circle Time uses your original work, branding, or licensed content without permission, you can report it directly from the listing page ("Report this listing"), or email us at circletimesg@yahoo.com.

To help us act quickly, please include:

• A description of the work you believe is being infringed, and proof you own or represent it.
• The URL or product name of the Circle Time listing in question.
• An explanation of how the listing infringes your rights.
• A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is unauthorised.
• Your contact details.

We aren't able to act on vague or anonymous reports without enough detail to identify the listing and the claim.

6. What happens after a report

• We review valid reports and typically unpublish the listing while we look into it, usually within a few business days.
• We notify the seller and give them a chance to respond with proof of ownership or a valid licence.
• If the seller can't demonstrate they had the right to list the item, the listing stays down and may be permanently removed.
• If we get it wrong, either party can appeal by providing further evidence — we're not the final legal authority on copyright disputes and, where necessary, we'll direct serious or contested claims to be resolved between the parties directly or through the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) or the courts.

Circle Time does not pre-screen every listing for infringement before it goes live, and we aren't able to independently verify ownership claims in every case. Our role is to respond promptly and in good faith once we're made aware of a valid concern — consistent with how notice-and-takedown works for online platforms under Singapore's Copyright Act.

7. Consequences for sellers

• First report, upheld: listing removed, seller warned.
• Repeated or serious infringement (e.g. reselling another educator's paid resource, using a centre's proprietary curriculum): account suspended or permanently banned, and earnings from the infringing listing may be withheld or reversed.
• Fraudulent counter-claims (falsely claiming ownership to keep an infringing listing up) will also result in account action.

8. A note on this policy

This policy sets our platform rules and process — it's meant to protect original creators and give everyone a clear, fast way to resolve disputes, not to replace legal advice.

Questions or reports: circletimesg@yahoo.com