For proof of your status as the first inventor, did you know about the Soleau envelope? The electronic laboratory notebook? The bailiff’s deposit? Today, new time-stamping systems for inventions, based on blockchain, are in the spotlight. Want to know more about time-stamping a document? Let’s find out!
The birth of new-generation time-stamping services for documents: a new way to make a date
Numerous services have been launched in recent years, such as Fidealis, BlockchainyourIP, Ipocamp, Gochain and YesMyProof, the time-stamping service from YesMyPatent, which offer to time-stamp your inventions and creations on the Blockchain in order to obtain proof of the creation date.
Quicker and less costly, time-stamping is sometimes presented as an alternative to patents.
Communications around document time-stamping
But is it risky to replace a patent with a blockchain timestamp to protect your Invention? What are we to make of an advertisement by a company that offers only blockchain time-stamping, even though it is not authorized to file patent applications (neither a lawyer nor a CPI)?
At YesMyPatent, we are approved by theINPI and theEuropean Patent Office for patent protection of inventions. AND we’ve developed a blockchain time-stamping service, plus an electronic safe!
These two complementary services provide you with a global vision of your industrial property strategy. We’ll help you time-stamp your work at the right moments, and assist you with your patent filing procedures to ensure full protection.
Don’t take any chances. In this article, we compare these two protection methods objectively, without bias.
What legal protection does time-stamping offer?
Time stamping allows you to date your invention or creation. In other words, it will give a date certain to your file or document deposited on the blockchain. The term “date certain” is important here. This expression is used specifically when a legal act has been passed on a specific date. In this sense, electronic time stamping is even more precise, since it indicates the date and time.
Time-stamping will enable you to prove that you were in possession of your invention today. Time-stamping proof can be backed up by other evidence, such as a deposit with a bailiff, a Soleau envelope or a laboratory notebook. It is therefore a useful method of proof if your status as inventor is contested, or if you are sued for infringement. It allows you to defend yourself if you are attacked.
The different methods of time-stamping documents are therefore complementary. Their choice will depend on your needs (file format, volume of items to be time-stamped), your budget and the time you have available. For example, an electronic Soleau envelope is limited to 300 MB, with an additional cost if this is exceeded. INPI keeps the Soleau envelope for an initial period of 5 years, renewable.
What’s the difference between time stamping and patenting?
Time stamping does not confer title to industrial property in the same way as a patent. It does not allow you to sue a competitor for infringement as a patent does.
So to say that a time stamp allows you to “protect an invention” is not correct. If a competitor copies your invention, you won’t be able to prevent it. You can, however, continue to exploit your invention. By sharing your market with your competitor! See more…
Nor does time-stamping allow you to invalidate a competitor’s patent on your invention.
In fact, the monopoly and right to prohibit belongs to the first to file a patent…not to the first to invent!
If this competitor patents your invention, even with a time stamp, he can legitimately be the only one to communicate on a “patented” invention. On the other hand, he won’t be able to sue you for infringement (that would be the last straw – you are, after all, the first inventor), nor ask you to pay him licensing fees, thanks to your time-stamped proof of “prior personal possession”.
Without such time-stamped proof of your status as the true first inventor, you could be sued and convicted of counterfeiting!
| Opportunities | Time-stamping enables… | The patent allows… |
|---|---|---|
| To prove I’m the first inventor. | Yes ✅ if no one has prior time-stamped proof. | Yes ✅ if no one has prior time-stamped proof. |
| Exploiting my invention by sharing the market | Yes ✅ | Yes ✅ |
| Obtain an industrial property title that I can lease, transfer or record on my company’s balance sheet. | No ❌ | Yes ✅ |
| Exploit my invention alone and sue my competitors for infringement. | No ❌ | Yes ✅ |
| Cancel a competitor’s patent. | No ❌ | Yes ✅ if my patent predates that of my competitor |
| Use the words “patented” or “breveté | No ❌ | Yes ✅ |
| Licensing and receiving royalties if someone wants to exploit my invention | No ❌ | Yes ✅ |
| Obligation to pay a license fee if a competitor patents my invention. | No ❌ if my timestamp predates the competitor’s patent | No ❌ if my patent is prior to the competitor’s patent |
| Time-stamp a document | Apply for a patent |
Time-stamping: don’t confuse blockchain, Soleau envelopes and bailiffs.
Compared with the Soleau envelope, which lasts for 5 years and can be renewed once, blockchain time-stamping is a mode of proof with no “expiry” date. It does not expire with time, and does not need to be renewed to be maintained.
There’s no need to time-stamp by country, either, as this remains international evidence (case law is evolving to provide the best possible framework for this type of proof of personal possession in different countries).
Compared with a bailiff’s deposit, which costs around €300 before tax, time-stamping is much more accessible: just a few clicks on the Internet, for a few dozen euros. It is, however, a less certain level of proof for a magistrate. If there is a serious risk of future litigation, it may be preferable to obtain evidence from a bailiff (countersignature of a laboratory notebook and consignment, for example).
Information :
From July1, 2022, bailiffs and auctioneers will become “commissaires de justice”. This is the new name to be used from now on.
When should I time-stamp my invention? Not too late, not too early …
Time stamping is a good starting point for precisely dating creative steps. As it is unpublished, it can be used in both secrecy and patent strategies.
If the time-stamped content is to be disclosed to a third party, it should of course be coupled with a confidentiality agreement. It can thus enable you to start discussions with commercial partners for the development of your invention at a very early stage. It is also the perfect ally before the signature of a research collaboration contract or a service provision contract, to identify your “prior knowledge” at the time of signature.
In view of its low cost, several time stamps can easily be made as the invention is designed.
Time-stamping is the first step on the road to protecting your invention.
At YesMyPatent, our YesMyProof blockchain-based document time-stamping service puts a certified digital stamp on your document and lets you keep it in an encrypted digital safe. After filing, two public and private certificates (to be kept confidential) will provide you with unlimited proof of your invention, and our team can help you draw up an NDA and a collaboration contract to protect your invention-related information for future discussions with potential partners.
