Use case
Fashion and design
A collection can be copied in a matter of weeks. Proving authorship of a print, a cut or a pattern is decided before the runway show.
The situation
One scenario, two outcomes
The same moment, depending on whether the work was timestamped or not.
The trigger
You hand over the patterns and three exclusive prints to a manufacturer you're working with for the first time.
Without proof
The following season, one of the prints turns up at a mass-market retailer. You have the source files. However, their modification date matches your last export. An unregistered design is protected for three years from its disclosure, and the creation date has to be documented.
With a certificate
The boards were timestamped before shipment, in bulk, for the entire collection. The creation date and the disclosure date are both established. The formal notice goes out the week you discover the copy.
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The need
Short cycles, unregistered designs, outsourcing.
Faster than filing
The pace of collections makes systematic registration of every design impractical. Timestamping boards, patterns and prints as the studio produces them takes a few seconds per piece and covers the whole season.
The unregistered design
European law protects an unregistered design for three years from its first disclosure, but you still need to be able to date that disclosure and the creation that preceded it. That's exactly what a certificate establishes.
Studios, freelancers, manufacturers
A collection passes through many hands. Attributing each board to its author at the moment it's produced clarifies ownership before a dispute raises the question. This includes work handled by a subcontractor who might reuse a motif.
→Boards, patterns, prints, prototypes, lookbooks
→Bulk deposit for an entire collection
→Studio and freelancer contributions attributed
→Marseille Judicial Court ruling, March 2025
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