What a timestamp can and cannot prove

You find an old draft with a date on it and feel relieved. Here is a record that the work existed before the disagreement.

That record is useful. Now be precise about what it shows. When a file existed, who made it, who owns it, and whether it is registered are four separate facts. A timestamp answers only the first.

A timestamp answers a narrower question

A time-stamp service proves one thing: that a particular piece of data existed before a particular time. Under the Internet standard for these services, RFC 3161, you send the service a hash of your file (a short digital fingerprint), not the file itself, and the service does not examine what it stamps. 1

The same standard tells the service to leave the requester's identity out of the time-stamp token. 1 So a timestamp does not show that you created the file, that you own all of its rights, or that you had permission to use every part of it. Anyone can stamp a file they did not make.

Describe your record accurately: "this shows that this version existed by this date." Do not treat it as a declaration that you are the owner.

Keep the surrounding story

Imagine two people arguing about an illustration. One has a single exported image. The other has sketches, editable files, dated feedback, and an agreement setting out each person's contribution. Those records cover different parts of the history, and together they make the facts easy to follow.

Build the second person's folder:

• Keep the original files and every meaningful version, labeled so anyone can tell which draft is which.
• Keep contracts, contributor details, publication records, and the messages that show who did what.
• For every timestamp or certificate, keep the token and the exact file it covers. Verification compares the fingerprint in the token with the fingerprint of the file 1, so a file you have since edited will not match. Treat the edit as a new version and stamp it separately.

Registration is a separate legal step

In the U.S., your work is protected by copyright from the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form. You do not have to register to have copyright. 2 Registration is a separate filing with the U.S. Copyright Office, and it does things no timestamp can:

• You cannot sue for infringement of a U.S. work until your claim has been registered or preregistered, or the Office has refused it and you serve notice of your suit on the Register of Copyrights. 3
• You keep statutory damages and attorney's fees available only if you register before the infringement starts, or within three months of first publication. 3
• A registration made before publication or within five years after it is prima facie evidence in court that the copyright is valid and that the facts on the certificate are true. 3

The Copyright Office says plainly that mailing a copy of your work to yourself gives you no protection under copyright law. 2 A private timestamp is not a substitute for registration either.

To register, file online through the Copyright Office's Electronic Copyright Office (eCO) on its registration portal 5, and check the current fee on the Office's fee page before you start 6. The guide to your first U.S. copyright application walks through the form.

When a service uses words such as "register," "protect," or "proof," ask exactly what you get: an entry in the service's own records, a timestamp token, confirmation that you filed with a government office, or a government certificate of registration. Only the Copyright Office issues a certificate of registration, and only after it examines your claim; it can also refuse. 3 A confirmation that you filed shows that you applied, not the outcome.

Use a records service for what it does well, preserving and dating your files, and get your rights from the office that grants them.

Think about what you disclose

File a patent application before you disclose the details of an invention in public. A public disclosure becomes prior art and can cost you the patent for lack of novelty. 4 Only some countries give a grace period, usually 6 to 12 months, so file first. 4 If you must show the invention before filing, for example to an investor, do it under a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement. 4 Know-how you keep as a trade secret stays protected only while you take real measures to keep it confidential. 4 Talk to a registered patent attorney or agent before you disclose an invention you may want to patent.

Before you upload an unpublished invention or confidential method to any service, find out who can see it and whether the service publishes anything. A service that stamps only a hash never receives the file 1. A service that stores your upload has your file, and one that publishes it has made your invention public. The guide on showing an invention to the world covers the rest.

Start your records folder simply: the work, the agreements, and enough dated history to explain what happened. Add a timestamp tool when it helps you preserve or verify that history, and know which parts of the story it cannot prove.