At the beginning there is a file. It may contain a text, an image, an audio recording, a video, a design, software code or another digital work. In your MyCopyright user account, related files can be organised in folders. In this way, for example, drafts, editing stages and final versions of a manuscript or a photograph can be brought together in a traceable manner.

When a file is sealed, a cryptographic hash is calculated from it. A hash is a digital fingerprint: a mathematical procedure generates a character string of fixed length from the entire file content. If even a small detail of the file is changed, a different hash value will, as a rule, result. This makes it possible to check later whether a file presented corresponds exactly to the version originally secured.

The hash is not a copy of the file. From a suitable cryptographic hash, the content of the file cannot, in practice, be reconstructed. During the sealing process, therefore, only the hash value is transmitted to Swisscom Trust Services; the trust service provider gains no access to the content of the document.

The hash is combined with an electronic seal and a timestamp. The electronic seal attributes the operation to the sealing organisation and protects the integrity of the sealed data. The timestamp documents that the hash in question already existed at a specific point in time. Under European eIDAS law, a qualified electronic timestamp enjoys a legal presumption as to the accuracy of the date and time as well as the integrity of the data connected with it. Swisscom Trust Services provides corresponding trust services for the jurisdictions of Switzerland and the European Union on the basis of ZertES and eIDAS.

Seal and timestamp do not, on their own, prove who created a work or who owns the copyright. What they document is more precise: a specific, technically verifiable version of a file existed at a specific point in time and was connected with a specific user account or deposit operation. Together with drafts, contracts, communications and further documents, this can amount to strong evidence.

Versioning brings several editing stages together. This makes it possible not only to secure the final version, but also to document the process of creation: for example the unedited capture of a photograph, the manuscript before copy-editing, the first music recording, the prompts used, or the subsequently edited final version.

Files and versions are also intended to be shareable in a controlled manner. Users determine who may access which data, and can withdraw permissions again later. Technical release, however, does not replace the legal assessment of whether a file may be passed on at all.

As a result of the sealing, a certificate can be generated. It brings together the relevant evidentiary data, in particular the hash value, the point in time and the attribution of the operation.

Sealing primarily secures the digital fingerprint of the file. With escrow, or deposit, the file itself is additionally kept. This distinction is technically essential.

In doing so, MyCopyright handles three interconnected layers: the original file, for example a manuscript or a photograph; the hash calculated from it; and the metadata of the operation, for example the point in time, the user account, the version, the title or the declarations made. The hash makes the integrity check possible. The deposited file, by contrast, is the only thing that makes a later restoration or release of the original content possible.

The file is deposited in protected and encrypted form. Access and release are, in principle, determined by the customer. ProLitteris keeps the file and documents the deposit operation. The digital deposit is thus comparable to a sealed document kept at a trustworthy depository.

For further development, a sovereign storage architecture is central. Sovereign does not merely mean that a server is physically located in Switzerland. What also matters is the applicable law, control over the encryption keys, administrative access, subcontractors, data transfers and the possibility of long-term restoration. Data storage is to be designed so that it is traceable, stable and as independent as possible from short-term changes at international platforms.

For particularly sensitive functions, a verified identity is envisaged. Electronic passports can be used for this. Modern ePassports contain a chip that can be read contactlessly. Via NFC, a suitable smartphone can read the data on this chip. The digital signature of the issuing state makes it possible to check whether the chip data originate from the competent authority and are unaltered. The visible passport page and the chip are compared with each other.

Depending on the security level, the document check can be combined with a biometric comparison and a liveness detection. This is intended to prevent identification from relying merely on a photograph, a recorded video or a manipulated representation.

In the case of companies, the role of the natural person must be documented in addition to their identity. Identifying an employee does not yet prove that she is permitted to represent a company or to transfer rights. MyCopyright must therefore represent identity, function, authority of representation and, where applicable, legal succession separately.

The deposit also includes a defined recovery process. If a person loses access to their account, restoration must not depend on an email address or a password alone. Depending on the risk, a renewed identification, a second authentication factor, additional documents and a manual check may be required. In conspicuous or particularly sensitive cases, a four-eyes principle or an on-site check can be used.

With digital content, it is increasingly no longer sufficient to look only at the finished file. Particularly where generative AI is used, it is often not apparent from the result which elements a human created and which a system generated or altered.

MyCopyright is therefore intended to enable structured declarations. A declaration is a statement by the responsible person about the creation process of a specific asset. It is linked to the file, the version, the user account and the point in time. The declaring person is responsible for the accuracy of their statements.

The following categories in particular are envisaged:

AI GENERATED denotes content that was generated, in full or in its defining elements, by an AI system. Human activities may here be limited to instructions, selection, repetitions or the approval of a result.

AI ASSISTED denotes a human-directed creative process in which AI was used as a tool. The essential decisions about expression, selection, arrangement and final version remain with specific human beings.

AI MODIFIED denotes the AI-supported alteration of a specific existing piece of content. Examples are the editing of a particular photograph, the alteration of a recorded voice, or the synthetic modification of a video.

AI FREE declares that no generative AI relevant under the applicable rules was used in producing the labelled content.

HUMAN AUTHORED denotes the claim that content is based on a specific human creative achievement. What is decisive is not merely human activity as such, but humanly determined elements of expression, selection or arrangement.

AI FREE and HUMAN AUTHORED are not identical. A document created purely by a human is not necessarily protected by copyright, for example if it consists only of trivial information. Conversely, a work created by a human may be protected by copyright even though AI was used as an aid in individual working steps.

The declaration does not establish protection and does not replace a legal assessment. It does, however, make the production process more traceable. Together with secured drafts, prompts, intermediate stages and editing information, it can show which contributions a human made.

The labelling also serves transparency towards the public. The transparency obligations of the European AI Act for certain AI-generated or manipulated content apply from 2 August 2026. They concern, among other things, machine-readable markings by providers of generative systems, as well as visible notices for deepfakes and certain AI-generated texts on matters of public interest. Not every AI-supported piece of content is subject to a visible statutory labelling obligation. The MyCopyright declarations are therefore designed more broadly and do not replace the assessment of the rules applicable in the individual case.

A declaration by the user can be supplemented by technical and expert examinations. This area is summarised under the term detection.

Detection does not mean that an algorithm decides bindingly on copyright or authorship. Technical detection systems can provide indications, but they work with probabilities and can produce both false positive and false negative results. An AI detector alone is therefore not proof that a work was created by a human or by a machine.

MyCopyright is intended to connect external analysis tools and combine them with its own examination procedures. For the copyright assessment, four questions are central: Which specific humans were involved? Which protected elements of expression did they create? How was the production process shaped and controlled? Which documents evidence these contributions?

A copyright checker can capture these questions systematically. It should in particular distinguish between protected forms of expression and unprotected ideas, information or inspirations. In the case of AI-supported works, it must also be examined whether humans sufficiently determined the selection, arrangement and specific mode of expression, or whether the defining result was essentially generated by the system.

A second area of examination concerns personality rights. Face, body, movements and voice can make persons identifiable. Their use or synthetic reproduction can be legally relevant independently of copyright. MyCopyright should therefore be able to document which persons are depicted or imitated, and which consents or other authorisations exist.

A third area concerns further intellectual property rights. In addition to copyright elements, a file may also contain a technical invention, a sign relevant under trademark law, or a registrable design. The tool should provide indications of possible patent, trademark or design questions and, where needed, refer to specialised advice or the competent registration offices.

Detection is thus a structured initial assessment. It can make risks and possible values visible, but it replaces neither in-depth legal advice nor a decision by an authority or a court.

In a further development stage, MyCopyright is to be expanded into a register for digital assets and rights information.

An asset is not simply a file. It comprises the secured file or file version, the technical identifier, the relevant metadata, the declarations made, any existing examination results, as well as information on the author, the rights holder and the persons authorised to represent them.

The registry is to enable two basic search directions: on the one hand, an asset should be findable by means of an identifier, a certificate or certain metadata. On the other hand, it should be possible to identify which person or organisation claims or manages rights in a specific asset.

A register entry does not establish rights and does not guarantee that the registered claim is substantively correct. It documents which statements were made at which point in time and which evidence was submitted for them. The legal status of a statement must therefore be indicated transparently, for example as a self-declaration, a verified identity, a checked authority of representation, or confirmed rights information.

The data model must be able to represent more complex rights situations. These include co-authorship, multiple rights holders, different rights of use, territorial restrictions, time-limited rights, relationships of representation and legal successions.

In the long term, a federation with collective management organisations, copyright offices and further rights infrastructures is envisaged. Federation means that several independent organisations retain their own data and responsibilities, but can communicate with one another via common technical standards. Search queries can thereby be forwarded to the respective competent body, without all the data having to reside in a single central database.

Standardised identifiers and interoperable metadata are intended to ensure that an asset can be referenced unambiguously across different systems and organisations. Which information is public, visible only to certain contractual partners, or exclusively to the rights holders, is determined by a tiered permission model.

Once an asset is unambiguously described and attributed to an entitled person or organisation, it can become the subject of a transaction.

MyCopyright is initially intended to support the selection of open licences. These include, in particular, Creative Commons licences. With them, rights holders can grant the general public standardised rights of use and, in doing so, set conditions such as attribution, no derivatives, non-commercial use, or share-alike. The licence can be linked directly to the registered asset and its specific version.

In addition, paid standard licences are envisaged. Such a licence must at least specify which asset may be used, which acts are permitted, for what duration and for which territory the licence applies, and what remuneration is owed.

For AI uses, additional parameters are required. A licence can, for example, distinguish between the inclusion of a work in training data, analysis or indexing, retrieval via a retrieval system, the adaptation of a model, or the generation and exploitation of outputs. Technical obligations such as source attribution, machine-readable rights information, deletion deadlines, or the documentation of the datasets used can also form part of the contract.

Finally, MyCopyright can support the sale of a work or the transfer of rights. A clear distinction must be drawn here: acquiring a file or a physical copy of a work does not automatically transfer the copyright. Rights pass only insofar as this is expressly agreed and legally possible.

Every transaction is to be linked to the asset, the persons involved, the scope of the contract, and the point in time. This creates a traceable chain of rights – from the original file, through individual licences, to later transfers.

Where remuneration is due for a use, the platform can also support billing, documentation and payout. The result is not merely a certificate for a file, but an infrastructure in which creative and other intangible achievements can be managed and economically used as verifiable assets.

MyCopyright is a service that enables you to apply a digital seal and a timestamp to a file and to deposit it with ProLitteris.

You create evidence that enables you to prove at a later point in time that a specific file existed at a specific moment.

The procedure includes:

• encryption
• a timestamp
• a deposit for the original file

Proof is provided by a certificate that can be produced at any time. Together with your deposited file, this constitutes evidence that attests to the identity and the temporal existence of an idea, a work, or a file.

The principle is similar to a sealed document that is deposited with a bank or a notary’s office. ProLitteris, together with a technical partner, is responsible for the digital sealing and storage.

You can secure almost any electronic files, regardless of whether they are protected by copyright or not.

The MyCopyright service is operated and further developed by ProLitteris together with its partner Swiss Trust Layer.

Ideas, drafts and data come into being before a work is published.

At this early stage, the question often arises: «How can I later prove that my idea came into being today, that it is authentic and unaltered, and that it was documented by me?»

With this service, ProLitteris is, for the first time, not only dealing with copyright, but also with the question of how it can be proven.

The technology developed in the Canton of Schwyz by the company Swiss Trust Layer makes it possible to secure evidence. Files (texts, images, sketches, concepts and other documents) can be securely deposited with ProLitteris.

When uploading, a cryptographic hash of the file is generated and provided with an encrypted timestamp. Swisscom stores the hash due to legal requirements.

Customers can produce a certificate at any time that proves the existence, time, origin and integrity of the file.

The deposit for works and drafts functions as a digital protection system for your files. You can assign a timestamp and encryption to works, drafts, or ideas and deposit them with ProLitteris.

The deposit is supplemented by specific declarations of the person who deposits the file.

The process is simple:

• You upload your file in the MyCopyright service.
• The file is digitally sealed and assigned a timestamp.
• ProLitteris stores the file securely in the deposit.

This creates reliable evidence. You can later prove that a specific file existed at a specific point in time and is assigned to you.

Use is voluntary and independent of the exploitation of your rights or the payment of royalties.

Important for you: MyCopyright serves to provide evidence in copyright law and supports you in legally protecting your creative work.

In addition to the MyCopyright service, the company Swiss Trust Layer is developing, in coordination with ProLitteris, further services for the deposit and use of files.

These include developments for personal documents (e.g. diplomas for applications and employment, inheritance law documents, health documents), for professional and business documents (e.g. contract versions, construction documents, signs and equipment of goods and services, stock-price-relevant communications) or for documents in regulated markets (e.g. pharmaceuticals, healthcare).

The use of MyCopyright has no direct connection with the other activities of ProLitteris as a collective management organization.

You can present the certificate together with the original file at any time. It serves as proof that your file existed at a specific point in time and is assigned to you. With MyCopyright, you improve the possibility of providing evidence in copyright matters.

Important: The service is not a requirement for copyright protection or for participation in the distributions of ProLitteris.

ProLitteris is further developing MyCopyright step by step to support you comprehensively in the use and protection of your works.

In a next development stage, ProLitteris is planning functions that directly support you in dealing with copyrights, for example:

• Management and release of works for publications
• Support with the licensing of texts and images
• Options for analyzing AI uses of your works

In addition, a quality label is planned. This confirms the authenticity of content, for example for media material or translations, based on the sealing and deposit.

For you, this means: MyCopyright is evolving from a pure deposit into a comprehensive platform for verification, use, and management of your works.