Use case
NDA and contracts
A signed agreement proves a commitment. A timestamped agreement also proves which text was signed, and on what date.
The situation
One scenario, two outcomes
The same moment, depending on whether the work was timestamped or not.
The trigger
The contractor signs the development contract and its forty-page specification, sent by PDF the evening before.
Without proof
At delivery, the missing features aren't in the version they produce. The two texts look alike and are both signed, but their date and version remain disputed. You argue about the text before you can examine the execution.
With a certificate
The signed PDF and its appendices were timestamped on the day of signature. Any later change produces a different fingerprint. The contractual text is fixed and the disagreement is about execution.
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The need
Integrity of the text, signature date, appendices.
Which text, exactly?
Contract disputes often concern the version of the agreement. Timestamping the signed PDF fixes the text byte by byte: any later change produces a different fingerprint, immediately detectable.
Dating the agreement independently of the parties
A date applied by an independent timestamping authority does not depend on any of the signatories. It usefully complements an electronic signature, or replaces it when the agreement was signed by hand and then scanned.
The appendices, often forgotten
Specifications, requirements, mockups attached to the contract: these are what define its subject matter, and what's often missing from the file. Timestamping them along with the agreement keeps the whole set consistent.
→Integrity of the signed text, verifiable by a third party
→Timestamping independent of the parties
→Appendices and attachments timestamped with the agreement
→Free-form evidence in civil matters, French Civil Code, Article 1358
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