Legal
Intellectual property: proving it was yours
Registering is one thing and proving it existed earlier is another. You usually need both.
In a dispute over who created what, the argument is rarely about the content: it is about **when** it existed and in whose hands. And that part is not solved by registration, it is solved by what you kept while working.
The three layers, and what each is for
| Layer | What it gives | What it does NOT give |
|---|---|---|
| Formal registration (trade mark, design, patent) | A right enforceable against third parties | It does not prove what you did before registering |
| Contracts with whoever created it | That the rights are yours and not the maker's | It does not prove the creation date |
| Evidence with a provable date | That the content existed on that date and has not changed | It does not prove you were the creator |
Important
The third column of the last row is worth understanding before relying on it. Sealing a file proves **date and non-alteration**, not authorship: it says the document existed in that form on day X and was in your possession, not that you made it. That is a great deal in a priority dispute and insufficient when the argument is about who created it — for that you have contracts and the trail of the work.
What to keep while working
- 1
Intermediate versions, not only the final one
A draft with its corrections proves a process; the final result proves only a result.
- 2
Who did each part and when
Especially where freelancers, agencies or interns were involved.
- 3
Contracts with everyone involved, signed before starting
An assignment signed afterwards works worse and sometimes does not work.
- 4
And what you showed third parties, with dates
Before a trade fair, a client meeting or a demo, seal what you are about to show.
Watch out
Point three prevents the most grief in small companies. If an outside agency designed your brand or a freelancer wrote part of the code, the rights are not automatically yours because you paid the invoice: they depend on what the contract says. And that conversation is easy before starting and awkward three years later.
Trade secrets follow a different route
Here the record of who accessed what stops being a convenience and becomes part of the protection: it is how you show you treated that information as confidential.
Worth knowing
What can be registered, where, and with what effect varies by type of creation and by territory, and a trade mark is not the same as a design or a piece of software. **What you should register and with what scope is a question for your lawyer**; what is described here is what to keep so that conversation starts with material rather than recollections.
›Does sealing a file replace registration?
No. They are different and complementary: one gives a right, the other gives a date.
›What if the dispute is with a former employee?
There the contract, what they signed and the record of what they accessed all weigh.
›Is emailing it to yourself any use?
Better than nothing and rather weak: the date depends on a mailbox you control.
A real case
The situation
A company finds a competitor launching something very like its own development.
What you do
- Retrieves the sealed intermediate versions and the contracts of everyone involved
What you get
It can establish when it existed and that the rights are its own, instead of arguing from memory.
The situation
The file's modified date is relied upon.
What you do
- Timestamps the work when it is finished
What you get
The date does not depend on the computer.
The situation
A design is shown to a client with no prior record.
What you do
- Timestamps before showing it
What you get
Priority in time is provable.
The situation
Similar work appears months later.
What you do
- Checks the timestamp of the original version
What you get
The date does not rest on your word.
The situation
The work evolves through several versions.
What you do
- Timestamps each relevant version
What you get
Each step can be placed in time.
The situation
It must be proved without revealing the content.
What you do
- Shares only the fingerprint
What you get
The proof travels without the work.
This article answers
- how to prove an idea is mine
- proving the creation date of a design
- protecting a development without registering it
- trade secret documentation