One register.
Proof that travels.
A US Copyright Office registration protects a US work inside the United States. It does not travel abroad. MyCopyright works the other way around: register a creative work once, and hold a sealed, dated record tied to your verified identity that can be checked anywhere and presented as evidence in disputes worldwide, including before a US court.
The legal ground is the Berne Convention : copyright arises automatically in its 181 member countries, and evidence of authorship and date travels with the work. What Berne never created is the record itself. That is the gap this register closes.
Copyright record
MyCopyright registration
One record: the exact file, the date, and the verified person behind it, checkable by anyone without contacting you.
181 countries
Berne Convention members where the right arises automatically
Qualified Swiss timestamp
Issued via Swisscom Trust Services, accredited under ZertES and eIDAS
ISO 24138:2024
ISCC content code, the ISO standard for identifying digital content
The registration that stops at the border
Copyright is territorial. There is no single worldwide copyright, but a set of national copyrights, one per country, each governed by that country's own law. The Berne Convention coordinates between these systems and guarantees the right automatically in every member country. It does not carry any country's paperwork across the border.
A registration with the US Copyright Office is a domestic procedural instrument. For a US work it is generally a precondition for an infringement suit in US federal court under 17 U.S.C. 411 , and early registration opens categories of remedy under US law. Every one of those advantages operates inside US courts. When a design is copied in Milan or Munich, the Italian or German court applies its own law, and the certificate from Washington is weighed like any other document from a foreign agency. The right crossed the border automatically. The receipt did not.
A MyCopyright record is built the opposite way. It attaches the proof to the work itself rather than to one jurisdiction: the exact file identified by hash, the date fixed by a qualified timestamp, the person verified by KYC. That record can be checked by anyone, in any country, without an account and without contacting you, and it can be presented as evidence wherever the dispute lands, including in a US courtroom.
| What matters in a dispute | US Copyright Office registration | MyCopyright record |
|---|---|---|
| Where it has legal effect | US courts, for US works | Evidence you can present in any of the 181 Berne countries, weighed by each court under its own rules |
| What it identifies | A claim recorded on a filing date, tied to a title and description | The exact file, by cryptographic hash and ISCC content code |
| Proof of date | The filing date, often long after creation | A qualified timestamp at the moment of sealing, with an eIDAS Art. 41 presumption of date and integrity |
| Who stands behind the claim | The registrant's own statement | A KYC-verified natural person |
| Independent verification | A lookup in one national database | Anyone, anywhere, can check the hash and timestamp without an account and without contacting you |
Where the claim ends, stated plainly
A sealed record is technically verifiable anywhere. That is a property of the cryptography and it does not stop at a border. What it is not is a substitute for US statutory registration: a US work still needs a US Copyright Office filing to sue in US federal court, and how any court weighs any piece of evidence remains a matter for that court under its own procedure. What the record gives you, everywhere, is the evidence itself: which file, which date, which person.
What you get when you register
Each step below is a working feature of your account today. Together they make one record that holds up.
Seal with a qualified timestamp
Upload files or a whole folder and receive a sealed PDF. The timestamp is issued through Swisscom Trust Services, an accredited qualified trust service provider under ZertES in Switzerland and eIDAS in the EU. It proves you held this exact file at this exact time, and under eIDAS Article 41 it carries a legal presumption of the date and the integrity of the data.
Identity check
A timestamp shows a file existed. It does not show who made it. The identity check closes that gap: you scan a QR code and verify with your passport in an app, and the record is tied to that verified person. A claim cannot come from a bot or an impersonator, which is the first objection an opposing lawyer raises.
Content labels
After sealing, each file can carry one declaration: AI FREE, AI ASSISTED, AI MODIFIED, AI GENERATED, HUMAN AUTHORED or HUMAN APPROVED. Once chosen it is locked, and resealing issues a certificate that carries the label. It puts on record what part a person and what part a machine played in the work.
ISCC content code
Alongside the cryptographic hash, each file shows an International Standard Content Code under ISO 24138:2024 , with its ISCC-ID, datahash and metahash. The code identifies the content itself, so the work can be recognised without the original file being shown to anyone.
Escrow in Switzerland
Once your identity is verified, you can keep files in escrow storage hosted in Switzerland, for the whole account or for chosen folders. Saving to escrow produces an escrow proof PDF with its own escrow ID.
Recovery
The record is bound to your verified identity, not to your login. If you lose every password and device, your identity can be re-verified, online or in person through an agent, and access to your records and escrowed files is restored.
Primary sources: Berne Convention (wipo.int) · eIDAS Regulation 910/2014 · ZertES SR 943.03 (fedlex.admin.ch) · ISO 24138:2024 (iso.org) · 17 U.S.C. 411 (law.cornell.edu)
MyCopyright, common questions
Is copyright registration required to own copyright?
No. Under the Berne Convention, copyright arises automatically the moment an original work is created, in 181 member countries, with no filing required. What registration through MyCopyright adds is the evidence: a sealed, dated record of the exact file and the verified person behind it, which is what a dispute actually turns on.
Does a US copyright registration protect me in Europe?
Not in the way most people assume. Copyright is territorial, so a German or French court applies its own law and does not give a US certificate the procedural effect it has in US courts. The right itself crosses the border automatically under the Berne Convention. The American filing record does not travel with it.
What is the ISCC?
The International Standard Content Code, published as ISO 24138:2024. It is a code derived from the content of a file, so the work itself becomes identifiable without the original file ever being exposed. MyCopyright shows an ISCC code alongside the cryptographic hash.
What are the content labels?
Six declarations you can attach to a sealed file: AI FREE, AI ASSISTED, AI MODIFIED, AI GENERATED, HUMAN AUTHORED and HUMAN APPROVED. Each file carries one selection, which is locked once made, and the resealed certificate shows it.
What happens if I lose access to my account?
Your identity can be re-verified, online or in person through an agent, even if every password and device is gone. Once re-verified, access to your records and to the files held in escrow is restored.
Can someone check my record without an account?
Yes. Anyone can check the hash and the timestamp on the public validation page without an account and without contacting you.
Register once. Carry the proof everywhere.
Seal your work, verify your identity, and keep the proof in Switzerland. Registration is open on Swiss Trust Layer.
Quick Answers
What is MyCopyright?
MyCopyright is the copyright register on Swiss Trust Layer. A creator registers a work once and receives a sealed record: the exact file identified by hash and ISCC code, a qualified timestamp, and a passport-verified identity, with optional escrow storage in Switzerland. The record can be presented as evidence in the 181 member countries of the Berne Convention.
Why register a work if copyright is automatic?
The Berne Convention grants the right automatically, but it creates no record of what you made, when, or that it was you. A dispute turns on exactly that evidence. A MyCopyright registration produces that record at the moment of creation, sealed with a qualified timestamp that carries a legal presumption of date and integrity under eIDAS Article 41.
Is a MyCopyright record valid in the United States?
A sealed record is technically verifiable anywhere, and it can be presented as evidence of authorship and date in a US dispute. It does not replace US statutory registration: for a US work, registration with the US Copyright Office under 17 U.S.C. 411 remains a precondition for an infringement suit in US federal court.