Timestamping is a mechanism that involves associating a date and time with an event, information or digital data to prove its existence at a certain date and time as well as its integrity. Its primary purpose is to record the exact moment when an operation was performed.
In recent years, the use of digital timestamping for intellectual property rights holders has gained increasing interest. For example, several private sector companies have launched their own copyright and other intellectual property rights registration systems to provide rights holders with a means to timestamp their works.
In the future, digital timestamping may become a recommended practice for intellectual property rights holders worldwide.