Prove you made the work,
and get clean client sign-off
An agency lives with two problems on every project. First, proving you authored a deliverable when a client says they made it themselves or a copycat runs with your idea. Second, getting a clean, dated record of what the client actually signed off. Swiss Trust Layer seals each deliverable with proof of authorship and a qualified timestamp, and lets your client sign off with the legal weight of a handwritten signature.
Copyright in original work is recognised automatically across the 180-plus countries of the Berne Convention . A qualified signature carries the legal effect of a handwritten one under eIDAS Art. 25 . A folder of drafts and emails carries neither.
Deliverable sealed and verified
Proof of authorship record
One record: proof that your agency authored the work, and a clean, dated client sign-off.
What an agency has to be able to prove
An agency ships original work all day, and almost none of it leaves a record that holds up later. Files sit in shared drives with dates anyone can change. Approvals live in email threads. When a dispute arrives, the proof you need is scattered or missing.
Across a normal project that means you should be able to show:
- That your team authored a design, campaign or build, on a specific date
- That a rejected pitch which resurfaces elsewhere started with you
- Exactly what the client approved, and which version they approved it on
- That the scope signed off was the scope you delivered
- What was handed over at the end of the engagement, and when
Each of these turns into a real cost the moment a client or a copycat has a reason to argue. The record you keep at the time is what decides how that argument ends.
What no proof costs an agency
The test you cannot pass without a record
Copyright protects your work automatically, but a dispute turns on evidence: who authored it, and when. Without a dated, tamper-evident record you are left arguing from file metadata and memory, which is exactly the position a client or a copycat wants you in.
Berne Convention (automatic copyright, 180-plus countries) · eIDAS Art. 41 (qualified timestamp, Regulation EU 910/2014)
When there is no record, the cost lands in three places:
- A client claims the concept was theirs, or a competitor reuses a pitch you were not paid for, and you have nothing dated to point to.
- A scope argument turns into unpaid work because the sign-off lived in an email that is now open to interpretation.
- IP transfers at the end of a project with no clean record of what was delivered, so a later dispute has no shared source of truth.
A qualified timestamp under eIDAS Art. 41 carries a legal presumption of the time and integrity of the data. That presumption shifts the burden of proof to whoever disputes your authorship or your sign-off.
A folder of drafts vs a sealed record
The difference is not tidiness. It is whether your authorship and your client sign-off hold when someone has a reason to question them.
| What matters to an agency | Email trail, no proof | Swiss Trust Layer sealed record |
|---|---|---|
| Dated proof you authored the work | None, just file dates you can edit | Author recorded, qualified timestamp |
| Clean client sign-off you can rely on | Email approvals, easy to dispute | Qualified signature, legally binding |
| Tamper-evident record of the file | None | PAdES/CMS signature chain plus LTV |
| Recognised for copyright across borders | Nothing to show | Evidence under the Berne Convention |
| Holds up when a client or copycat disputes it | Burden of proof on you | Legal presumption on your side |
Authorship first, sign-off alongside it
Proof of creation is the part an agency needs most, and it is recognised for copyright across the Berne Convention member countries. Qualified signing supports it, so the client sign-off is binding under ZertES SR 943.03 in Switzerland and eIDAS across the EU. See the compliance hub.
How Swiss Trust Layer fits your workflow
Swiss Trust Layer does not run its own cryptographic key infrastructure. Every seal and signature is backed by Swisscom Trust Services, an accredited qualified trust service provider in Switzerland.
Upload the deliverable
Any file type: design file, PDF, image, document, video or archive. The original stays under your control the whole time.
Seal and, if needed, sign it
A qualified timestamp records who sealed the work on that date. When you need client sign-off, send it for a qualified electronic signature in the same record.
Deliver with proof attached
Hand over the sealed file. It carries the authorship record, the timestamp and long-term validation data, verifiable by any PDF reader or a court expert.
The sealing uses PAdES and CMS formats, international standards defined by ETSI and recognised across jurisdictions. This is cryptographic proof, not a signature image, so a court expert or any PDF reader can verify it independently, now and in the future.
Primary sources: Berne Convention (wipo.int) · ZertES SR 943.03 (fedlex.admin.ch) · eIDAS Regulation 910/2014
Where sealed proof pays off across an engagement
The same record covers the work an agency handles most, from the first pitch to the final handover.
Design and brand deliverables
Logos, brand systems, campaign artwork and design files sealed at delivery carry a dated record of who sealed them, with a qualified timestamp proving the version existed on that date.
Copy, content and creative concepts
Pitch concepts, scripts, articles and campaign copy get a dated record of authorship, so a rejected pitch that reappears elsewhere is easy to trace back to you.
Client sign-off on scope and deliverables
Send the work for the client to approve with a qualified signature and hold a dated record of exactly what they signed off, instead of an email you have to dig for later.
Statements of work and change requests
Scope documents and change orders signed with a qualified signature are binding on the day they are signed, which settles the where-did-that-extra-work-come-from argument before it starts.
Source files and handover
When IP transfers to the client, a sealed handover record shows what was delivered and when, so both sides have the same version of events.
Software and product work
Release builds, specs and technical deliverables gain a qualified timestamp, giving a software agency a defensible record of what shipped and on which date.
Berne Convention
Copyright recognised in 180-plus countries
Backed by Swisscom Trust Services
Accredited qualified trust service provider
ZertES and eIDAS
Sign-off valid in Switzerland and all 27 EU states
Agency proof and sign-off, common questions
Does sealing a file give me copyright?
Copyright in an original work exists automatically the moment you create it, with no registration required, and it is recognised across the 180-plus member countries of the Berne Convention. What sealing adds is the evidence: a dated, tamper-evident record showing the work existed on a specific day and that your agency authored it. That is what you rely on when someone disputes who made it or when.
How does this protect us against a client who says they made the work?
You seal the deliverable at the point of creation. The record shows who sealed the work and when, and applies a qualified timestamp, which under eIDAS Article 41 carries a legal presumption of the date and integrity of the file. If a client later claims they produced it themselves, the burden of proof sits with them, not you.
Why is a qualified signature better than an email approval for sign-off?
An email approval is easy to contest and hard to tie to a specific version of a deliverable. A qualified electronic signature has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature under eIDAS Article 25, so a client sign-off is binding and dated, and it is bound to the exact file they approved.
Does this work for clients outside Switzerland?
Yes. Swiss Trust Layer uses Swisscom Trust Services, which holds qualified trust service provider accreditation under both ZertES in Switzerland and eIDAS in the EU, so a qualified signature is valid in Switzerland and across all 27 EU member states. Copyright evidence under the Berne Convention is recognised across its 180-plus member countries.
What happens to the proof if the signing certificate later expires?
Swiss Trust Layer embeds long-term validation data at the moment of sealing. This archives the certificate status inside the record, so a seal issued today stays provable and auditable well after the underlying certificate has reached the end of its cycle.
Put proof behind every deliverable
Create an account and seal your first deliverable in minutes, or book a short setup call and we will walk through how it fits your project workflow.
Comparing tools? Swiss Trust Layer vs DocuSign →
Quick Answers
How can an agency prove it created a design or deliverable?
Seal the file the moment it is finished. Swiss Trust Layer records who sealed the work and when, applies a qualified timestamp and produces a tamper-evident record. That gives dated evidence that the work existed on a specific day and was not altered afterwards. Copyright in an original work is recognised automatically across the 180-plus countries of the Berne Convention, and the sealed record is the evidence of who authored it and when.
How does an agency get clean client sign-off on a deliverable?
Send the deliverable for the client to approve with a qualified electronic signature. Under eIDAS Article 25 a qualified electronic signature has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature, so the sign-off is binding and dated. Instead of an email chain that is hard to rely on later, the agency holds a signed record of exactly what the client approved and when.
What stops a client from claiming they made the work themselves?
A dated, tamper-evident record of authorship. When an agency seals a deliverable at the point of creation, the qualified timestamp under eIDAS Article 41 carries a legal presumption of the date and integrity of the file. That shifts the burden of proof to anyone who claims they made it first or made it themselves.