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Ways to Prove You Had an Idea First — Compared

There is no single tool that "protects an idea". Some tools give you legal rights, some give you evidence of a date, and some give you a contract. This page puts them side by side — including the cases where our own product is the wrong choice.

Not legal advice. This page is general information from a software company, not from a law firm. Examples are mostly from US law; rules differ by country. If the stakes are real, talk to a qualified IP attorney.

The comparison table

Scroll sideways on small screens. Costs are official fees only (no attorney fees) and are sourced below.

MethodWhat it proves / givesWhat it does notTypical costTime to obtainPrivacy: who sees the content?Independently verifiable?Legal statusBest for
Patent application (incl. provisional)A filing date with the patent office. If granted: an exclusive right to the claimed invention.Does not cover bare ideas, business concepts or creative works. A provisional is never examined and lapses after 12 months unless you follow up.[2]USPTO provisional filing fee: $325, $130 (small entity) or $65 (micro entity). Non-provisional filing + search + examination: $2,000 / $800 / $400. Attorney fees are extra and usually far larger.[1]Provisional: the day you file. Grant of a non-provisional: typically years of examination.The patent office sees it. Non-provisional applications are normally published; a provisional is not published on its own.Yes — official register.Statutory right. The US has been first-inventor-to-file since 16 March 2013.[3]Real inventions you intend to commercialise or license.
Copyright registration (e.g. U.S. Copyright Office)A public record of your claim in a specific work, with a deposit copy. In the US it unlocks the right to sue and, if timely, statutory damages.[7][8]Does not protect the underlying idea, method or concept — only the expression.[9]$45 (one author, one work), $65 standard online application, $125 paper.[4]Average 4.1 months across all claims; 3.6 months for straightforward online claims (Oct 2025 – Mar 2026).[5]The Office receives a deposit copy; the registration record is public.Yes — official register.Statutory. Copyright itself exists automatically from fixation; registration is voluntary but required before suing over a US work.[6][10]Finished creative works, code, text, music, images — especially if you may need to enforce in the US.
Notary / sworn statementThat a specific person signed a specific document on a specific date in front of the notary.Not the truth, originality or authorship of the content. A California notarial certificate says expressly that the notary verifies only the identity of the signer.[16]Low. Capped by state law in many US states — e.g. $15 per signature in California.[16] Civil-law notaries in other countries charge more.Same day, by appointment.The notary sees the document (at least the signature page); you keep the only copy.Partly — it depends on the notary's journal and on you keeping the paper original intact.Well understood by courts everywhere as evidence of signing.Signed declarations, affidavits, agreements.
Trade secret + NDAAn NDA proves what a named person agreed to keep confidential. Trade-secret law protects valuable information you actually keep secret.No protection against independent invention or reverse engineering. Lost once the information is public. Requires "reasonable measures" to keep it secret.[17][18]No registration fee. Drafting and, above all, enforcement cost money.Immediate, once signed.Only the people you disclose to.No — it is a private contract.Contract law plus trade-secret statutes (in the US, the Defend Trade Secrets Act and state law).Know-how, recipes, source code, customer data; any disclosure to partners, contractors or investors who will sign.
"Poor man's copyright" (mailing it to yourself)At best, that an envelope passed through the post on a date.Not what was inside at the time. The U.S. Copyright Office says there is no provision in copyright law for it and it is not a substitute for registration.[6]Postage.A few days.Nobody sees it.No — the evidence stays in your hands and cannot be checked without destroying the seal.No special legal standing.Nothing we would recommend.
DIY OpenTimestampsThat a file with this SHA-256 hash existed before a given Bitcoin block.Not authorship or ownership. No certificate, no support; you must keep the .ots proof file next to the original and upgrade it after confirmation.[13]Free. Public calendar servers need no registration.[12]Proof file immediately; Bitcoin confirmation typically takes a few hours because many hashes are batched.[13]Only the hash leaves your machine.Yes — open-source tools; full verification uses a Bitcoin node.[13]Evidence; weight depends on the court. Not a qualified electronic timestamp under eIDAS.[22]Developers and technical users who are happy on the command line and want zero cost.
Other blockchain timestamp servicesSame core proof as any hash timestamp: existence of the hashed content at a time. Some add extras such as timestamping-authority stamps or APIs.Not authorship, ownership or exclusive rights. Check which chain is used, whether you can verify without the provider, and what happens to your proof if the provider shuts down — WIPO's own service, WIPO PROOF, was terminated on 31 January 2022 (existing tokens remain valid).[11]Varies widely: from subscriptions with public plans (e.g. Bernstein[15]) to price-on-request (e.g. OriginStamp[14]).Minutes to a day. OriginStamp, for example, states that hashes are written to Bitcoin and Ethereum within 24 hours.[14]Depends on the service: some hash locally, some store your files.Depends on the service and the chain.Evidence; weight depends on the court.Teams that need API volume, document vaults or additional timestamping authorities.
icalledit.ioThat the exact hashed record — title, description, optional file hash — existed when the Bitcoin transaction was made.Not authorship or ownership. No exclusive rights. Not a patent, trademark or copyright registration. Not a qualified eIDAS timestamp.$19 per registration, one-time; packs of 3 for $49 and 10 for $149. No subscription. Pricing.Usually broadcast within minutes; confirmed when the next blocks are mined. Note that Bitcoin block times are only accurate to within an hour or two.[24]Only the SHA-256 hash is written to Bitcoin (OP_RETURN[23]). Files in the Protect flow are hashed in your browser and not uploaded. Title and description are stored in your account; see Privacy.Yes — one dedicated transaction per registration, readable on any block explorer, plus a proof.json and a guide to verify without us.Evidence; you can submit it, and the court decides its weight.Founders, creators and freelancers who want dated, independently checkable evidence before sharing work — without the command line.

When icalledit is the wrong tool

When a timestamp is the right tool

A timestamp is useful whenever the question may one day be "what exactly did you have, and when?": before a pitch, before handing work to a client, at each milestone of a manuscript or codebase, when you keep something as a trade secret and want to be able to show later what the secret was, or while you save up for a patent attorney. It is cheap enough to do often, and it never exposes the content.

The methods, one by one

Patent application (including provisional)

A patent is a government-granted monopoly on a specific invention. It is the only item in this list that lets you stop someone who came up with the same thing independently. A US provisional application is a low-cost way to secure a filing date: it is not examined, lasts 12 months and lets you write "patent pending".[2] Official fees are modest[1]; professional drafting is where the real cost lies. Blockchain timestamp vs patent →

Copyright registration

Copyright arises automatically when you fix an original work, in every Berne Convention country, without formalities.[10][6] Registration is a separate, optional step that matters most in the United States, where it is required before suing over a US work and for statutory damages.[7][8] Copyright never protects the idea itself.[9] Blockchain timestamp vs copyright registration →

Notary or sworn statement

A notary is a trusted witness to a signature. That is valuable, but narrower than people expect: the notary does not vouch for what the document says.[16] Blockchain timestamp vs notary →

Trade secret and NDA

If the value of your idea lies in nobody else knowing it, secrecy plus contracts is the correct legal tool. It costs nothing to register because there is nothing to register — but you must actually take reasonable measures to keep the information secret[17], and you have no remedy against someone who works it out independently. A timestamp pairs well with this route: it lets you show later what the secret was on a given date, without disclosing it.

"Poor man's copyright"

Mailing yourself a sealed envelope is folklore. The U.S. Copyright Office states that the practice has no basis in copyright law.[6] Why it does not work, and what to do instead →

DIY OpenTimestamps

OpenTimestamps is an open-source protocol that batches many hashes into a single Bitcoin transaction through public calendar servers.[12][13] It is free and technically excellent. The trade-offs are practical: command-line tools, a .ots file you must keep and upgrade, and nothing to hand to a non-technical person. If that suits you, use it — it proves the same thing our product proves. icalledit does not use OpenTimestamps: each registration gets its own Bitcoin transaction with the hash in an OP_RETURN output, so the proof can be read directly on a block explorer.

Other blockchain timestamp services

Several companies sell hash timestamping, often with extras such as APIs, document storage, or additional stamps from traditional timestamping authorities. When you compare them, ask four questions: Which chain, and is it a public one? Can I verify the proof without the provider's website? Is my content hashed on my device or uploaded? What does one proof cost, and is there a subscription? Provider continuity matters too: WIPO PROOF, run by the World Intellectual Property Organization itself, was terminated on 31 January 2022.[11] A proof that depends on the provider's servers is only as durable as the provider.

icalledit.io

We compute a SHA-256 hash of a structured record of your idea and write that hash into a Bitcoin mainnet transaction. You receive a PDF certificate with the transaction ID, the hash, a QR code and a verification link, plus a proof.json containing the exact hashed data. Anyone can re-compute the hash and find it on any block explorer — our independent verification guide shows how. Pricing is one-time, from $19. What it proves is deliberately narrow: this content existed at that time.

What courts have said about blockchain timestamps

The honest summary is "admissible as evidence in a growing number of places, decisive on its own almost nowhere". In March 2025 the Tribunal judiciaire de Marseille accepted blockchain timestamps of design drawings, together with other evidence such as publication on social media, when establishing the date and ownership of fashion designs.[19] In June 2018 the Hangzhou Internet Court admitted evidence preserved on a blockchain.[20] Vermont law treats a blockchain record as self-authenticating under conditions — and states that the presumption does not extend to the truthfulness of the contents.[21] In the EU, Article 41 of the eIDAS Regulation prevents courts from refusing an electronic timestamp solely because it is electronic, while reserving the presumption of accuracy for qualified timestamps.[22]

Need dated evidence today?

One registration is $19, one-time. You get a Bitcoin transaction, a PDF certificate and a proof.json you can verify without us.

Timestamp your idea → See pricing

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest reliable way to prove when an idea existed?

If you are comfortable with command-line tools, OpenTimestamps is free and anchors a hash in Bitcoin; you keep the .ots proof file yourself. A paid timestamp service such as icalledit.io costs $19 per registration and adds a certificate, a verification page and a proof file. Mailing a sealed envelope to yourself is cheap but has no special legal standing.

Does a blockchain timestamp prove that I am the author or owner?

No. A timestamp proves that this exact content existed at that time. It does not prove who created it, and it gives no exclusive rights. It is one piece of evidence that can support your account alongside drafts, emails, witnesses and contracts.

Can a blockchain timestamp replace a patent?

No. Only a granted patent gives you an enforceable right to stop others from making, using or selling an invention. In the US and most countries priority goes to the first inventor to file, not to whoever holds the earliest private record. A private timestamp is also not prior art, because prior art has to be publicly available.

Do I need to register my copyright if I already have a timestamp?

Copyright exists automatically once a work is fixed, so neither is needed for protection to exist. But for United States works, registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is required before you can sue for infringement, and timely registration is required for statutory damages and attorney's fees. A timestamp does not give you those remedies.

Is a blockchain timestamp accepted in court?

It can be submitted as evidence; how much weight it carries depends on the court and the jurisdiction. Courts in France and China have taken blockchain timestamps into account together with other evidence, and the EU eIDAS Regulation says an electronic timestamp cannot be denied legal effect solely because it is electronic. Only qualified electronic timestamps enjoy a legal presumption of accuracy, and a Bitcoin timestamp is not one.

When is icalledit the wrong tool?

When you need enforceable exclusive rights in an invention (file a patent application), when you need statutory damages for a US work (register the copyright), when you need to protect a brand name (register a trademark), or when you need someone bound to secrecy (sign an NDA). A timestamp complements these; it does not replace any of them.

Sources

Official and primary sources for the facts on this page. All accessed on 20 September 2026. Fees and processing times change — check the source before you rely on a number.

  1. USPTO Fee Schedule (provisional filing fee, 37 CFR 1.16(d): $325 / $130 small entity / $65 micro entity; utility basic filing + search + examination: $2,000 / $800 / $400) — https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/fees-and-payment/uspto-fee-schedule
  2. USPTO — Provisional Application for Patent (12-month pendency, not examined, "patent pending") — https://www.uspto.gov/patents/basics/apply/provisional-application
  3. USPTO MPEP § 2159 — first-inventor-to-file provisions took effect on 16 March 2013 — https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s2159.html
  4. U.S. Copyright Office — Fees ($45 single author/one work, $65 standard application, $125 paper) — https://www.copyright.gov/about/fees.html
  5. U.S. Copyright Office — Registration Processing Times (average 4.1 months across all claims; 3.6 months for electronic claims without correspondence; cases closed 1 Oct 2025 – 31 Mar 2026) — https://www.copyright.gov/registration/docs/processing-times-faqs.pdf
  6. U.S. Copyright Office — Copyright in General FAQ (protection from the moment of fixation; "poor man's copyright") — https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html
  7. 17 U.S.C. § 411 — registration before an infringement action for a United States work — https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/411
  8. 17 U.S.C. § 412 — registration as a prerequisite to statutory damages and attorney's fees — https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/412
  9. 17 U.S.C. § 102(b) — copyright does not extend to ideas, procedures, processes, systems, methods, concepts — https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/102
  10. WIPO — Summary of the Berne Convention (protection may not be conditional on any formality) — https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/summary_berne.html
  11. WIPO PROOF — service terminated on 31 January 2022; existing tokens remain valid — https://www.wipo.int/wipoproof/en/
  12. OpenTimestamps — free public calendar servers, Bitcoin-based — https://opentimestamps.org/
  13. OpenTimestamps client README — .ots proof files, upgrading incomplete timestamps, verification with a local Bitcoin node — https://github.com/opentimestamps/opentimestamps-client
  14. OriginStamp — product and pricing pages (hash written to Bitcoin and Ethereum within 24 hours; prices on request) — https://originstamp.com/pricing
  15. Bernstein — Bitcoin-anchored IP certificates plus timestamping authorities; public plans — https://www.bernstein.io/
  16. California Secretary of State — Notary Public Handbook (a notary verifies only the identity of the signer; maximum fee $15 per signature, Gov. Code § 8211) — https://notary.cdn.sos.ca.gov/forms/notary-handbook-current.pdf
  17. 18 U.S.C. § 1839(3) — a trade secret requires "reasonable measures" to keep the information secret — https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1839
  18. WIPO — Trade secrets — https://www.wipo.int/en/web/trade-secrets
  19. Tribunal judiciaire de Marseille, 1ère ch. civile, 20 March 2025 (AZ Factory) — blockchain timestamps accepted together with other evidence — https://www.legalis.net/jurisprudences/tribunal-judiciaire-de-marseille-1ere-ch-civile-jugement-du-20-mars-2025/
  20. Godfrey & Kahn — Hangzhou Internet Court admits blockchain-preserved evidence (27 June 2018) — https://www.gklaw.com/Insights/Using-Blockchain-in-the-Admission-of-Evidence-Chinese-Court-Leads-the-Way.htm
  21. Vermont 12 V.S.A. § 1913 — blockchain records; the presumption does not extend to the truthfulness of the contents — https://codes.findlaw.com/vt/title-12-court-procedure/vt-st-tit-12-sect-1913/
  22. Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 (eIDAS), Article 41 — legal effect of electronic time stamps; presumption only for qualified time stamps — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2014/910/oj
  23. Bitcoin developer guide — null data (OP_RETURN) outputs are provably unspendable data carriers — https://developer.bitcoin.org/devguide/transactions.html
  24. Bitcoin Wiki — Block timestamp (accurate only to within an hour or two) — https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Block_timestamp