The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has recently introduced its new online business service WIPO PROOF, which provides businesses with a reliable way to record the existence of their digital files at a given moment in time.
All businesses, whether big or small, possess intangible, yet extremely valuable assets, such as patents, trademarks, inventions, designs, copyright, trade secrets and other confidential information. Those assets may be interfered with if they are not carefully protected.
How does WIPO PROOF work?
The WIPO PROOF process is relatively straight forward and cost-effective.
All you have to do to obtain a date and time-stamped digital fingerprint of any file (proving its existence at a specific point in time) is to upload your digital files to be processed, and the service will provide you with a WIPO PROOF “token”.
The WIPO token acts as proof of the content and its form at a given date and time, and can be used as evidence in legal disputes.
Anyone can use the service securely, as WIPO will not read the content of the digital file or store a copy of its content.
What’s the benefit to your business?
By creating a date and time-stamped fingerprint of your digital files, WIPO PROOF provides what could be thought of as a kind of “digital notary service”. In the unfortunate event that your business’s intellectual assets are misused or misappropriated, or become the subject of a legal dispute, the WIPO PROOF token can be used by you as evidence to prove that your business was the first to use, and therefore owns, its intellectual property assets.
Does WIPO PROOF replace IP registration?
Whilst WIPO PROOF does not replace formal IP registration, it may complement existing IP systems, adding another tool for management of your business’s intellectual property assets from concept to commercialisation.
If you need help protecting your intellectual assets or have questions about an IP law matter, the KKI Commercial Team is here to help.
