Business

Keep a private, versioned trade-secret record and a separate time receipt for the exact file.

Keep a private, versioned trade-secret record and a separate time receipt for the exact file. Keep your original source records together, then date the exact files. It does not establish secrecy, ownership, commercial value, misuse, who accessed the file or that protection measures were reasonable.

Try a file locally

Your photos and files stay on your device, so keep them.

EXAMPLE

Trade secret record

1 Nov 2026

Authority time: 14:02 UTC · example
Bitcoin block time: 14:10 UTC · example
Last checked: 15:02 UTC · example

✓ Dated◆ Permanent

Now keep it safe: three things

Keep your photos and files unedited. The receipt only matches the originals. Put them in an album such as “My records”.
Save this receipt to your camera roll.
Keep the receipt file too. The image is a handy copy; checking needs the file.
Email it to yourself.Email it to myself
Your mail app opens a draft. Attach your receipt image and receipt file. Don’t attach your photos or documents. Timevolt does not send it or know whether it was sent.

Your record, one step at a time.

Your photos and files stay on your device, so keep them.

Local preview: files are fingerprinted here. Notes and progress stay in this browser. Keep downloaded copies; browser storage is not a backup.

1. Document0 items

How?

Add the exact original files for this part of the record. Keep them unchanged; a different export or edit has a different fingerprint.

Add files

Add link and screenshots

Link to recordAdd screenshots

The link is recorded, not fetched or verified.

2. Write down anything you need to remember0 items

How?

Record the date, time, place and who you spoke to. New notes are saved separately rather than editing an old note.

How to keep notes that hold up

Write it down

New note

By making a receipt you agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy. The Bitcoin record is permanent.

Photo of note

By making a receipt you agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy. The Bitcoin record is permanent.

How to keep notes that hold up

Write notes as soon as you can. Keep the original account rather than replacing it later; the venue decides what weight it gets.

Write it down straight away, on paper or in the box on a step.
Put the date, time and place at the top, and who you spoke to.
Use their words where you can; separate what you saw from what you were told.
Sign or initial a paper note, photograph it and add the photo.
Never edit an old note. Add a new dated entry when something changes. A device save time is not independent time evidence or proof of event order.

Trade secret record

01 · Keep the exact files

Keep the original files for trade secret record. Include any existing photos, signed records and source-system exports.

Records to keep: Document

Trade secret record

02 · Date the file’s code

Your device fingerprints the selected file or manifest. Dated follows an independent timestamp; Permanent follows Bitcoin anchoring.

An independent time, tied to the exact bytes.

Trade secret record

03 · Keep the evidence

Keep the original files and complete receipt separately, alongside any existing venue, signature and workflow records.

Keep the originals too. A changed or compressed copy has a different fingerprint.

Try a file. It stays here.

Make a test receipt on this device.

By making a receipt you agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy. The Bitcoin record is permanent.

Choose a file

or drop a file here

Real cases: why records made at the time matter.

Real cases where dated records mattered. We don’t claim a time receipt would have changed the result.

US Ninth Circuit; federal and California claims · 2020

Define the parts of a claimed secret

A maker named the database parts it called secret and described how it kept them private. The court reopened the case because key facts stayed disputed and the search for proof ended too soon. It did not decide misuse or final ownership.

Summarized on Oct 29, 2026

Read the source ›

US Seventh Circuit applying Illinois law · 2014

Private designs need real access safeguards

A design firm's files lacked markings and access limits, and some recipients had no privacy promise. The appeal court kept the firm's loss on its contract claims. It found that agreement could not be enforced under the Illinois rules applied.

Summarized on Oct 29, 2026

Read the source ›

US Seventh Circuit applying Illinois law · 1991

Secrecy need not mean no working copies

A maker kept drawings in a guarded vault with privacy promises and markings, but vendors held working copies. The court reopened the case because the strength of those checks stayed disputed. It did not find theft or that the checks were enough.

Summarized on Oct 29, 2026

Read the source ›

What courts, schemes and regulators say.

Positions below refer to the cited rule or record type, not endorsement of Timevolt. This service is not represented as an eIDAS qualified timestamp provider. A non-qualified timestamp does not receive the qualified timestamp presumption.

Needs something else · International guidance; country-specific law controls

WIPO trade-secret protection guidance

Commercially valuable confidential information needs reasonable secrecy measures; documentation and enforcement requirements vary by country, and independent development or lawful reverse engineering can remain outside protection.

Official practical guidance, not a court evidence-admission rule or a guarantee. A byte-date receipt is not a secrecy program or exclusive ownership right.

Source summary as of 2026-10-29. Check the current source and applicable local rules.

Read the source

Needs something else · Singapore

Intellectual Property Office of Singapore trade-secret guidance

Guidance describes confidential quality, circumstances imposing confidentiality and relevant misuse/detriment issues; enterprises should identify and manage secrets and protection measures.

Singapore guidance, not a global rule or endorsement of timestamps; private content should not be published merely to obtain a dated record.

Source summary as of 2026-10-29. Check the current source and applicable local rules.

Read the source

Other ways to do this

Prices change. Check each provider’s site for current prices and service details.

Tangibly
Provides Trade-secret inventory, governance, identification and access-control program support.
Visit site
Dropbox DocSend
Shares documents with access controls and activity records.
Visit site
VeraCrypt
Provides local encrypted storage container protects retained content.
Visit site

Related workflows.

Proves / Doesn’t prove

Proves

A completed time receipt shows that the exact selected file existed by the independently witnessed time. You can check whether a later copy has the same bytes. It does not establish creation time, authorship, identity, event order, location or the truth of the contents.

Doesn’t prove

It does not establish secrecy, ownership, commercial value, misuse, who accessed the file or that protection measures were reasonable.

These are the bounds of a completed proof. The local tester does not establish any time. The chosen court, scheme or regulator decides what to accept.

Questions, answered plainly.

Your file stays on your device. During normal receipt creation, your device sends a randomized code made from its fingerprint, plus encrypted recovery data. It doesn't send the plain fingerprint or the random value that opens the code. Keep the original file and the complete receipt for checking. Privacy Policy.

Does a receipt register a trade secret?

No. Trade-secret guidance concerns keeping valuable information confidential and managing it; dating a file is a separate, limited record.