We ask the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to include digital timestamps and verifiable evidence records in its “Proof of creation” guidance.
Creators deserve more ways to document their work, support their ownership claims, and defend their rights. If WIPO lists mailing a sealed copy of a work to yourself, it should recognize secure digital evidence too.
Digital evidence can help show when a work existed and preserve a creator’s statements about it in a form others can check.
As a creative community, we are ready to stand behind our claims, take responsibility for them, and have them examined when challenged.
Recognize the evidence. Empower the creator.
Proposed addition to WIPO’s “Proof of creation” guidance
Digital timestamps and verifiable evidence records
Digital timestamps and verifiable evidence records can help creators show when a work existed and preserve their statements about its creation and ownership. Creators remain responsible for their statements, which can be examined and challenged. These records can support a claim alongside other evidence; they do not establish authorship or ownership by themselves.