In a copyright dispute, the outcome turns on who can prove creation date. Here is exactly what EU and Swiss courts accept, and how to build court-admissible proof before a dispute arises.
In February 2026, a Geneva-based brand design studio delivered a full visual identity to a SaaS startup three days before the service contract was countersigned. The startup folded four months later. Its liquidators assigned all company-developed IP to a buyer, including the studio's logo system. The studio had version files, Slack threads, and a PDF invoice. The buyer's lawyers had one question: prove the studio made it before the contract date. The studio could not. The dispute cost CHF 210,000 to settle.
If you need to prove IP ownership in a copyright dispute, the answer turns on one question: can you prove when you created the work, and what it contained at that exact moment? This guide explains what evidence EU and Swiss courts accept, why digital timestamps matter, and the fastest way to create legally admissible proof of creation.
In a copyright dispute, you are not required to register your work to have rights (under Berne Convention Art. 5, copyright arises at creation, without formality). But unregistered rights create a practical problem: you must prove creation date and authorship yourself, without a registration certificate to rely on.
Courts in EU jurisdictions and Switzerland accept the following as evidence of IP ownership:
Of these, only a QTSP-issued qualified electronic timestamp carries the Art. 41 legal presumption: the court must accept the timestamp as accurate unless the opposing party proves otherwise. Every other form of evidence can be challenged, and you bear the burden of proving it.
In copyright disputes without a qualified timestamp, the evidentiary burden falls on you. This means:
Opposing counsel will challenge informal timestamps. Email timestamps can be altered before sending. Server logs can be fabricated. Cloud storage dates can be rolled back by account administrators. Git commits can be rewritten, though harder to do undetectably.
A QTSP-issued qualified timestamp under eIDAS Art. 42 cannot be successfully challenged on any of these grounds. It is cryptographically bound to a UTC time source, issued under a supervised QTSP key pair, and verifiable independently by the court without relying on your servers or accounts.
The moment you complete a creative work (a design, a document, source code, a manuscript, a musical composition), seal it. Do not wait until a dispute arises. A timestamp created after a claim is filed provides much weaker protection.
What to seal: the final file, plus any version history that establishes your creative process. A PDF export of a design plus the source .fig or .ai file creates a stronger combined record than either alone.
Upload your file to a platform backed by a QTSP. Swiss Trust Layer works with Swisscom Trust Services, an accredited trust service provider under ZertES (Switzerland) and recognised under the eIDAS framework for cross-border EU admissibility.
The platform:
You receive a sealed document and a verification certificate. Anyone, including a court, can verify independently via our public verification page without creating an account.
Keep three things:
Store these in at least two separate locations (cloud and local). Courts expect you to produce originals. If you cannot produce the original file that matches the hash in the certificate, the certificate's probative value is diminished.
A qualified timestamp proves when and what. It does not prove who created the work. To prove authorship, keep records of the creative process:
These records, combined with a qualified timestamp, form a complete evidentiary package.
Contact an IP lawyer before filing any claims or responding to infringement notices. Your lawyer will need:
For Swiss disputes, note that ZertES-qualified seals are directly admissible under Swiss contract law (ZertES Art. 2). For EU cross-border disputes, the eIDAS Art. 41 presumption applies automatically in all 27 member states.
If the Geneva studio had sealed the final brand files with a qualified timestamp on the day of delivery, the liquidators' lawyers would have faced a different situation entirely. The QTSP-issued certificate would have established, with statutory presumption under eIDAS Art. 41, that those exact files existed on that exact date and in that exact form. The buyer could not have challenged the timestamp without proving QTSP failure. There would have been nothing to settle.
Timestamping after the dispute starts. A timestamp created after the other party's work appears is legally suspicious. Courts may dismiss it entirely if the timing is too convenient.
Using blockchain timestamps. Public blockchain timestamps are not qualified under eIDAS (Art. 42). They carry no statutory presumption and are routinely challenged. See our blockchain vs qualified timestamp comparison.
Sealing only the final version. If the other party can show their work predates your sealed version, you may lose even if you created the underlying ideas earlier. Seal drafts and working files at key milestones.
Relying solely on email timestamps. These are easily fabricated and frequently challenged. Use them as supporting evidence, not primary proof.
| Evidence Type | Legal Presumption | Challengeable | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| QTSP-issued qualified timestamp | eIDAS Art. 41 statutory presumption | No, opponent must rebut | Primary |
| ZertES-qualified seal (Switzerland) | ZertES Art. 2 legal equivalence | No | Primary (CH) |
| Notarised document | Notary trust | Difficult | Slow, costly |
| Registered copyright | Registration certificate | Rarely | Not available all jurisdictions |
| Email timestamp | None | Yes, easily | Supporting only |
| Git commit timestamp | None | Yes, rewritable | Supporting only |
| Blockchain timestamp | None | Yes, no QTSP | Not recommended |
| Witness testimony | None | Yes | Weakest |
The Geneva studio's situation is not unusual. The settlement cost CHF 210,000. Average Swiss IP disputes run between CHF 150,000 and CHF 400,000 (Swiss Arbitration Association).
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