Presenting the Evidence Record in Court Proceedings
How your IP Vault record — the authorship declaration, file fingerprints and timestamp proofs — can be handed to your solicitor or counsel to support your case in court. This guide is general information, not legal advice.
Four Layers of Proof
Your archive includes a signed copyright declaration stating who created the work, how it was made, and what is owned.
Every file has a unique digital fingerprint. Anyone can check that the files still match their fingerprints on record, proving they have not been changed since the original submission.
Each work is stamped with two separate, cryptographically secured timestamps — one using the Bitcoin blockchain and one using an official eIDAS time-stamping authority. Either can be checked publicly, and both are free. They prove the work existed by a specific date.
A qualified timestamp is generated automatically with every submission, at no extra cost. In many jurisdictions the law treats such timestamps as presumed to be accurate. This presumption can be challenged, and the final weight given to the evidence is always for the court to decide.
Digital timestamps establish date of existence and data integrity. They do not replace statutory execution formalities where the law strictly prescribes "wet" physical ink (such as wills or certain deeds). However, in disputes where the authenticity, timing, or veracity of a physical document is challenged, the timestamped record provides essential corroborative proof that the exact text existed at that certified moment in time.