F.A.Q.



Patamu

Patamu is a web platform that provides a service of protection from plagiarism and storage of creative works. The protection is instantaneous and is carried out by means of a timestamp. The author keeps all the rights on the deposited works, has no further obligations towards Patamu, and can use and diffuse its works as he/she prefers.

Patamu Registry allows to protect one's creativity and publish or share it safely. The authors retain all rights on the work, with no constraints towards Patamu and can decide how to share or publish their works. Patamu Registry can be used by musicians, photographers, writers, artists, choreographers, journalists, bloggers, researchers, designers, IT developers, those who make derivative works, remixes, mash-ups, cut-outs or re-elaborations of public domain materials.

Watch our introductive video here Watch our introductive video here .

PATAMU: With Patamu Registry it is possible to produce a proof of anteriority that allows to demonstrate the authorship of a work. Patamu does not ask for any exclusivity on the works deposited and the authors are free to use the service even if they are registered to a traditional collecting agency like SIAE in Italy. The deposit is made online and the proof generated is valid for a minimum of 20 years. Patamu Registry is totally equivalent, in terms of legal validity, to the SIAE Deposit of Original Works and has a significantly lower cost. Click here to find out about costs and features of the service.

SIAE: The Deposit of Original Works offered by SIAE is identical - in terms of legal validity and type of deposited works - to the Patamu Registry service, but much more expensive: SIAE asks € 65 for each single deposit for SIAE members, and € 132 for each single deposit for non-members. The deposit is made by post or by going to SIAE offices, and the validity is 5 years. Here you can find more information. Patamu asks for a small annual fee, the deposit is done completely online and is valid for 20 years.

In summary, Patamu Registry offers a service for the generation of proof of authorship that has the same legal value of the of the one offered by SIAE, but through a simpler way, with a longer validity, and at a significantly lower cost.

Yes, you can use Patamu Registry services even if you are affiliated with a collecting society in your country.

In terms of royalties collection, Patamu is not yet equivalent to a collecting society, but the team is working hard to be able to offer this service soon. In the meantime we have launched Patamu LIVE, which allows Patamu artists to collect their royalties autonomously for their live performances (provided they are not members of other collecting societies). You can subscribe to the service from here.

Patamu currently offers three main services:

PATAMU REGISTRY: it is the main service, which allows you to associate a certain date to the existence of any digital document generating a proof of anteriority that allows you to have a legally valid proof to prove you are the original author of the work.
Patamu Registry can be used by artists, creatives, and anyone who wants to prove the existence of a file on a certain date. Both registered artists and non-registered artists of traditional collecting societies (such as the Italian SIAE, the German GEMA, etc.) can use the service: there are no incompatibilities in this regard. 

PATAMU LEGAL: we have lawyers and experts in our team, who are able to offer you information and advice on copyright issues, in a quick, clear and transparent way. The simplest consultations are in "fairpay": we propose you a small sum to pay if you are satisfied with the advice given, to help us pay our legal experts. The most complicated consultations are offered at reduced rates, which we offer depending on the size of the intervention.

PATAMU LIVE: it is a service that allows artists to collect royalties from their live performances (of their own original works). Please check with your collecting agency if this service is compatible with them. As far as Italy is concerned, only artists who are not registered with SIAE can use our service.


Patamu Registry

Patamu Registry is the main service offered by Patamu. It allows you to associate a given date with the existence of any digital document by generating a proof of anteriority that gives you a legally valid proof of authorship for a creative work. The proof of anteriority is valid as proof of authorship provided that there is no evidence previously produced by others, which is in conflict with it.
We encourage you to register even just the draft of your creative work, and then eventually "evolve" the deposit with a new timestamp once you have the final version: in fact, the sooner you certify the authorship of a creative work, the better.

The proof of anteriority consists of the .zip file (containing the work and your declaration of being the author of the work) generated when you register the work, and of the encrypted .tsr file. By owning these two files you can prove the anteriority of your deposit for 20 years, independently of Patamu. Only paid accounts allow you to download the tsr file. We recommend that you download the zip and tsr file as soon as possible, and that you keep your works and proofs on our site too, rather than storing them only locally, because we store your files with stronger levels of protection. 

The Patamu Registry service can be used by artists, creatives, and anyone who wants to prove the existence of a file on a certain date. Both non-registered SIAE artists and SIAE artists can use the service: there are no restrictions or incompatibilities in this sense. 

On Patamu you can generate a proof of evidence for any creative work. You can read a non-exhaustive list of works at this link

As an example, you can protect music and songs, lyrics and written works, software,
 drawings and logos, scripts and screenplays, scientific production, architecture and design project, graphic and visual productions, storyboards and anything that can be subject to copyright, author’s rights and intellectual property rights. In case of doubt, you can contact us.

Patamu allows its users to protect their works generating a legally valid proof of anteriority for the existence of a creative work, by means of the cryptographic digital timestamping tecnhology. During the timestamping process, the user can also choose a distribution licence, e.g. "All rights reserved" or Creative Commons licenses, which compared to traditional copyright (all rights reserved) are more suitable to the possibilities of dissemination, sharing and collective co-creation offered by the web 2.0.

At the moment of the deposit, we generate a .pdf file (authorship declaration) with all the authors data that you provided during the deposit procedure. We create a zip file containing both the original updated work and your authorship declaration, and we timestamp this zip file, legally proving the existence of this file in a certain date. You can open the zip file at any time, immediately after the deposit, and check by yourself that it contains the right authorship declaration. This means that nobody (not even us) could include a different authorship declaration without you noticing it immediately.

Since the generated timestamp is valid only when presented together with the original zip file (as the two files are digitally binded by a cryptographic, legally valid procedure that cannot be falsified), you can be sure that the work is registered in your name and of the co-authors that you possibly have indicated, and that therefore your authorship is protected.

  • Because Patamu will never make your works public without your consent, and this includes when your subscription ends or your account is removed.

  • Because we certify the date of deposit with a cryptographic procedure and timestamping system legally recognised in all Europe and in 172 countries all over the world.

  • Because you keep control over the works you register, and over your rights.

  • Because your work gets timestamped instantaneously, and after the deposit you can verify that the proof of anteriority has actually been generated with the author names that you have indicated.

  • Because once you download the proof of anteriority, you can use it independently from Patamu.

  • Because by keeping your works also on Patamu servers you can benefit from multiple backup levels that keep your works and proofs of anteriority safe, without running the risk of losing them in case your local copy gets lost or corrupted.

  • Because if you're not satisfied with our service, you can contact us within the first 30 days of purchase, and you will be refunded :)

Patamu Registry offers two types of accounts: one-off payment; annual subscription.

You can read the details by clicking on this link.

Remember that the STARTER account is free and allows you to try the service by registering up to 10 works per month (and 25 in total). It is necessary to upgrade to a higher account (or to buy a single timestamp for each work) if you wish to download the proof of authorship for the works already registered with a Starter account. The proof of authorship will remain valid for 20 years regardless of Patamu, even if in the following year you'll decide not to renew the subscription.

If you decide not to upgrade nor to buy the single timestamp, the works already registered will be visible in your accounts for 12 months from the moment of the deposit. Afterwards, it is necessary to upgrade in order to be able to access them.

With a Starter account, you can always be added as a co-author by other paying accounts, and you can still enjoy the other services offered by Patamu, such as Patamu Live.

NOTE: these accounts are meant for personal use. If you are a Label, publisher or company and you wish to protect the works of other artists, please contact us and we will give you more information about our Enterprise account.

All Patamu Registry accounts expire after one year of subscription and are not automatically renewed. You will be sent a reminder some days before expiration to renew the subscription.

Professional account holders have the option to deposit the works using a pseudonym or stage name.

At the time of registration, however, the actual personal data must be included (otherwise the proof generated will not be valid), but in the paternity declaration and therefore in the proof of authorship (both not publicly visible) the pseudonym/stage name will also be included, while in the deposit certificate (which a Professional member can decide whether to make public or not) will only appear the pseudonym/stage name.

You will find the option to enter the pseudonym/stage name on your profile page, under the "EXTRA" tab. After entering the pseudonym/stage name, in order to include it in the declaration of authorship next to your real name, click "YES" under the heading "Alias in the declaration of authorship". For Professional accounts, it is also possible to decide from time to time whether and how to use the pseudonym/stage name at the end of each individual timestamping process.

 

Invoices for purchased services are generated automatically within 10 days after payment, and sent to subscribers via email. It is no necessary to do anything to request it.
In case there is a particular urgency just email us at support@patamu.com so that we can produce the invoice before the scheduled time.

NOTE: Patamu accounts are designed for personal use. If you need to be invoiced as a company, you can email us your invoice data at fatturazione@patamu.com as soon as you make the payment.

The proof of authorship generated with Patamu is valid in all the 172 countries that signed the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. You can read the list of countries by clicking on this this link.

Furthermore, the validity of our timestamps is legally recognized and guaranteed by the European Union, as the certification authority that produces our timestamps is certified to be compliant with the EU 2014 eIDAS regulation on Digital Trust services.


Timestamps

The timestamp is a legally valid process which allows you to assign a precise date and time to an electronic document which contains within it a work of genius anche the declaration of the authorship of the work itself. This allows authors to legally protect themselves from possible plagiarism, since they are provided with a declaration of authorship or paternity of the work, which is valid unless there are other proofs that precede it in time.

Timestamp cannot be changed as they are legally binding documents referring to their issuing on a certain date and hour.

However, it is possible to update the work status (i.e. from draft to final) or its license type (i.e. from All Rights Reserved to a CC license). You just need to go to your "My Works" page and, in the works list, click on the small arrow next to a work's status, or on the orange button next to its license type. You will be able to rapidly update your work.  Remember that each update will produce a new corresponding timestamp. 

The timestamping procedure is instantaneous and immediate.

You can upload your .zip file containing the artwork with the declaration of authorship of the work at any time and download the corresponding timestamp in a few seconds (Watch the video tutorial here).

The timestamp has a duration of 20 years. However, we recommend you to go through the procedure and re-do the timestamping every 10 years. 

With Patamu, you can also register your works on the Bitcoin Blockchain, which has unlimited duration. 

In this way we can combine the best of the two technologies: from the classic timestamp we take the legal validity guaranteed 100%, from the blockchain the unlimited duration of the registration.

Unfortunately you cannot change a timestamp that has already been done since every timestamp is virtually registered and stamped in the moment it is filed. In case you wish to correct mistakes in the data, you will have to make a new timestamp and enter the correct data. 

The .tsr file is a binary file that represents the timestamp itself. You do not need to open it as it has value only if associated to the file that has been timestamped.

To check and to verify a timestamp you made, you simply go to https://www.patamu.com/verify and follow the instructions. You can also use external tools such as the site of the Notariat (National Council of Notaries) that you find here.

To open the .zip file you can use any program that allows you to extract a .zip archive. Some of the most known are WinZip and WinRAR.

It is not possible to protect one's own works under the name of a group, because timestamps are legal documents that require the personal data of the one(s) who hold the paternity of the work.

However, if a work has been produced by more than one person, all authors can be included as co-authors. Furthermore, with a Professional account, it is also possible to add the name of the band and to associate the members of the group (or artistic collective) to it. This allows both to speed up the timestamping process, and to access some advanced services and pilot projects reserved for groups.

Each timestamp typically needs to be associated with only one work, which will be marked and protected individually.

By purchasing the Professional account or purchasing the Multiple Works timestamp, it is possible to generate a proof of authorship for several works in a single deposit.

To do this, it is sufficient to create a .zip file containing the works to be protected and to deposit it using the upload procedure.

For this type of deposit, we ask the user to include a .pdf file containing the list of protected works and a declaration of authorship.

As for the work's title, at the time of deposit on Patamu you can indicate either the title of the collection (for example the name of the album if it is a musical album) or simply a generic name to indicate that it is a collection of works (for example Collection Works 1).

Generally, it is not advised to delete timestamps, because they are legally binding documents. However, should you add wrong data or make any mistake when timestamping a work, please contact us at support@patamu.com.

 

By "master work" we mean a work from which one or more subsequent ones derive.

During the timestamping process, we ask whether the work being deposited derives from a master work, or if it is inspired by an external work (not on Patamu), or if it is the evolution of a previously timestamped work.


Technical questions

Try using another PDF viewer like the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

You can change your account email at any time from your My Profile page.

The username is currently not editable, but do not worry: it is just an identifier that is never made public and it's only needed to access your account.

Its use is however obsolete, because now you can also log in with your email address.

If you have a Professional account and you wish to change the pseudonym that you use in the public certificate of authorship for your works, this can be changed as often as desired from your profile page.

Of course. Just email us at support@patamu.com.


The copyright on a work arises from the moment of its creation, without the need for any formality.

Having said that, the deposit with timestamp on Patamu has a probative value, in the sense that it attributes a certain date, endowed with legal value, to the work. In the event, therefore, of a possible future plagiarism of the work by a third party, who claims to be the author of the work, it will be easier to show that the work had been previously created on a given date by a given author.

So it is good to point out, from a legal point of view, that it is not the deposit of the work that attributes authorship. The deposit of the work with timestamp aims to facilitate the author's probationary position in a system that does not recognise the mandatory registration of intellectual works as is the case for trademarks and patents.

Timestamps guarantee probative efficacy, as established by the European Directive 1999/93/EC and subsequent amendments. A timestamp is a sequence of characters that represent a date and / or time to ascertain the actual occurrence of a certain event.

At the time of the authorship declaration it is not obligatory to upload an ID because the deposit is not in itself constitutive of authorship (which is presumed, in case of trial, until proven otherwise), but aimed to the attribution of a certain date to a specific work and the associated authorship declaration. Therefore, the absence of an identity document does not invalidate the timestamp.

Patamu and similar sites are obviously not the only way to prove the authorship of a given work. If someone, instead of joining Patamu, wants to send his work to a friend, he is free to do so. He can also decide - for example - to perform a new song in front of all his friends and call them to testify one by one in the case of a subsequent plagiarism. They are all probationary means. In Patamu it is possible to access this service in a simple, immediate and not expensive way.