Timestamp inventions and prove prior art
Invention disclosures, lab notebooks, designs, and trade-secret records anchored on Bitcoin — an independent, tamper-proof record of what you had and exactly when. Prior art, priority, and possession you can actually prove.
For patent & ip attorneys, inventors, and r&d teams.
Four guarantees, in intellectual property
You had it by a certain date
An OpenTimestamps proof on Bitcoin pins the moment a disclosure or design existed — the priority evidence that decides who was first.
Unaltered since you recorded it
The record is byte-for-byte as captured. A later edit fails verification, so the dated version is provably the version.
Attributable to you
Seal the document under your organisation's certificate, chaining to a published root — attribution alongside the date.
Provable for years, by anyone
The Bitcoin anchor outlives any vendor. A record timestamped today stays verifiable indefinitely, with standard tools, by any examiner or court.
From your file to a proof anyone can check
The same pipeline every time — the seal and the timestamp travel with the file, so the proof is self-contained.
Seal it in the app — no setup
- 1
Sign in as your organisation
Open app.letsseal.org and sign in. Your organisation gets its own certificate authority for sealing disclosures and records.
- 2
Seal a disclosure document
Upload the invention disclosure or design PDF; it's sealed over the whole file and timestamped, fixing what you had the moment you record it.
- 3
Or timestamp a file privately
For confidential material — source, research data, raw designs — anchor just the file's hash from the CLI. The bytes never leave your machine, only the 32-byte digest.
- 4
Keep the proof for the record
Store the proof link or the .ots file with your IP records. It's the independent, dated evidence you produce if priority is ever questioned.
Automate it from your terminal or CI
The sealbot CLI does the same thing, scriptably — one command per file, straight into your pipeline.
# Timestamp a confidential file — only its hash leaves the machine $ sealbot anchor invention-disclosure.pdf --publish anchored invention-disclosure.pdf → invention-disclosure.pdf.ots proof https://letsseal.org/d/… (digest only — file never uploaded) # Or seal a disclosure under your org (binds it to your certificate) $ sealbot seal invention-disclosure.pdf --org examples sealed invention-disclosure.pdf proof https://letsseal.org/d/4e9b22…f10a # Prove the date later, against Bitcoin, with stock tooling $ ots verify invention-disclosure.pdf.ots Success! Bitcoin attests existence as of 2026-06-30
Anchoring proves existence-and-date without the file ever leaving your machine — only its SHA-256. Sealing additionally binds the document to your certificate. Both are recorded in the public transparency log.
What a proof looks like, and what you can seal
- Document
- A timestamped invention disclosure
- Issuer
- Let’s Seal Examplesletsseal.org
- SHA-256
- 64-hex fingerprint ✓
Anchored on Bitcoin
Recorded in the public transparency log
A single use case, many documents. Each of these is sealed the same way:
A timestamped invention disclosure
Live proofThe proof page is the evidence you'd put in front of an examiner: it shows the disclosure is unaltered, sealed by your organisation, and independently timestamped on Bitcoin — a priority date no one can move.
A lab notebook or research record
Anchor each notebook entry or dataset as you record it — only the hash leaves your machine — building a dated, tamper-evident trail of what you found and when.
A design file or trade-secret record
Timestamp confidential designs and trade-secret documentation privately, so you can prove possession by a date without ever disclosing the file.
A source-code snapshot
Anchor a release or milestone snapshot's hash to fix an authorship and existence date — provable prior art for software, with the code kept private.
Live proofs are real documents sealed under the “Let’s Seal Examples” organisation.
What you’ll seal
- Invention disclosures
- Lab notebooks
- Prior-art records
- Design files
- Trade-secret documentation
- Research data
- Source code snapshots
Straight answers
- Does this replace filing a patent?
- No. It's independent, dated evidence that you had an invention or design by a certain time — useful for prior art, priority, and trade-secret records. It complements a patent filing; it isn't a registration.
- Can I prove a date without disclosing the file?
- Yes. Anchor just the SHA-256 — the file never leaves your machine, only its 32-byte digest, and the Bitcoin timestamp still proves it existed by that date. You reveal the file only if and when you choose.
- How durable is the priority evidence?
- The Bitcoin anchor doesn't depend on Let's Seal or any vendor. A record timestamped today stays independently verifiable for years, with standard OpenTimestamps tooling.
- Is the timestamp credible to a court or examiner?
- It's an OpenTimestamps proof committed to the Bitcoin blockchain — a public, immutable ledger anyone can check. The evidence stands on that ledger, not on trusting us.
Start sealing intellectual property documents
Free and open. Seal in the app, automate from the CLI, and hand anyone a proof they can verify themselves.