The World Intellectual Property Organization launched end of May the new WIPO PROOF, complementing the Organizations existing intellectual property systems. The new online business service provides tamper-proof evidence of the existence at a point in time of any digital file, including data sets, in any format and is therefore helping innovators and creators to safeguard their work on the journey from concept to development to commercialization.
By creating a date- and time-stamped fingerprint of a digital file, WIPO PROOF makes an easy-to -use and efficient instrument in order to create tamper-proof evidence of the existence of an asset's digital files at each specific point in time. The created WIPO PROOF tokens help mitigate the risk of future legal disputes, as well as laying in a next step a foundation for any eventual registration of a formal IP right. Anyone can access WIPO PROOF’s online website in order to request a WIPO PROOF token for a specific digital file. The service uses Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology to generate WIPO PROOF tokens. With the application of the well-established and reliable cryptographic PKI- technology the generated tokens deliver the highest level of certainty that the date and time on the token is exact and has not been tampered with.
WIPO’s Director underlines the importance for artists in a highly dynamic global economy to be able to prove possession of intellectual assets. WIPO PROOF therefore helps inventors to better protect their digital outputs and represents a significant step in expanding WIPO’s suite of services that meet the demands of the digital economy. WIPO PROOF joins WIPO's market-leading IP services for patents, trademarks, industrial designs, geographical indications and arbitration and mediation.
