Short answer: a good invention record is a dated, consistent trail: signed and witnessed notebook entries, saved CAD and code versions, test data and disclosure dates. It supports your account of how and when you developed something. It does not give you a patent or priority, and under both US and European rules the filing date, not your notebook, is what usually counts.
Last checked 12 November 2026. General information, not legal advice. TimeBinder does not detect AI, and a dated record is not proof of authorship, ownership or originality.
Table of Contents
Start with the rule that matters most: the filing date
Modern patent systems largely reward whoever files first, so records are not a substitute for filing.
- United States. Since the America Invents Act, the US uses a first-inventor-to-file system. Under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)(1), a disclosure made by the inventor (or someone who got it from them) one year or less before the effective filing date is not used as prior art. That is a limited grace period, and it is not available in many other countries.
- European Patent Office. Article 54 EPC treats everything made available to the public by written or oral description, by use or in any other way before the filing date as state of the art. Article 55 disregards earlier disclosures only in narrow cases within six months before filing (evident abuse, or certain official international exhibitions). Under Article 60(2), where two people invented independently, the right belongs to the one whose application has the earliest filing date, provided that application has been published.
The practical point: showing a public talk, a demo, a crowdfunding page or a preprint can end your chances in Europe even though a US grace period may exist. Our posts can you patent an invention you showed publicly years ago? and provisional patent vs a timestamp explain this further. Speak to a registered patent attorney before disclosing anything you may want to patent. This page is not patent advice.
What records are for
Records help in situations other than winning a filing race:
- Explaining who contributed what, which matters for naming inventors correctly.
- Showing what you knew and had built at a particular time, for example in a dispute with a collaborator or former employer.
- Supporting a prior-use or trade-secret position. See prior user rights: the records to keep and trade secret records timestamping.
- Giving your attorney a clean history when you do file.
Lab notebooks and engineering logs
- Write entries as you go, dated, in ink or in a system that records edits. Note what you tried, what happened, and what you decided next.
- Do not leave blank pages and do not erase. Strike through errors so the original stays legible.
- Have a colleague who is not an inventor read, date and sign significant pages, and note that they read and understood them. Keep it factual.
- Keep test data and raw files in their original formats alongside the entry that refers to them.
- Record conception and first working version separately: the idea, the first sketch, the first prototype, the first test that worked.
For more on showing when you had an invention, see how to show when you had an invention.
Intermediate CAD, models and code
Final drawings tell little about how the invention developed. Keep the intermediate versions:
- Save dated copies of CAD models and drawings at each design stage, with a short change note.
- For code, use version control, and also export a release archive at key points. Git dates can be edited, which is why they are not proof by themselves. See git commit dates as proof.
- Keep photographs and videos of prototypes with their original files, not re-exports.
- Keep supplier quotes, purchase orders and emails that show when you ordered or built something.
Then group the files at each milestone and create a TimeBind: the fingerprints of up to 10 files are anchored in the Bitcoin blockchain, and your files never leave your machine. See how it works and inventor timestamping.
A disclosure log
Keep a simple table of every person or organisation you showed the invention to: date, who, what they saw, whether an NDA was in place, and what was said. Add the dates of any public talk, publication, demo, sale offer or website post. This is the record your attorney will ask for, because public disclosure dates can decide what you may still file. Do not put confidential detail in public documents or emails to people without an NDA.
If you are considering publishing the invention deliberately so no one else can patent it, read defensive publication vs a timestamp.
What a timestamp adds, and what it does not
A timestamp shows that an exact file existed no later than a recorded time and has not changed since. It does not show that you invented anything, that it is new or patentable, that the notes are accurate, or that you were first. It does not replace witness signatures, contemporaneous notes or a patent filing. It is one dated link in a record that your attorney and a court would weigh with the rest.
Because it is independent of you, it is useful when you need to show that a file was not edited later. It does not decide who owns the invention. Employment contracts and assignments usually do. See prior inventions list: what to record before a new job.
Tools that can help
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Does a notebook entry give me priority in the US or Europe?
Not by itself. The US now uses a first-inventor-to-file system and the EPC gives the right to the earliest filing date. A notebook helps explain your development history and who contributed. It does not replace filing.
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Is there a grace period for my own disclosure?
The US has a one-year grace period for inventor-originated disclosures under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)(1). At the EPO, Article 55 is narrow (evident abuse and certain official exhibitions within six months). Check with a patent attorney before disclosing.
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Should I keep CAD intermediates?
Yes. Dated intermediate versions show how the design developed, which final drawings do not.
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Does a timestamp prove I invented it?
No. It shows an exact file existed no later than a recorded time and is unchanged.
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Is this patent advice?
No. It is general information. Take advice from a registered patent attorney or agent.
Sources checked
- USPTO, MPEP § 2153, Prior Art Exceptions Under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(1) (one-year inventor-originated exception).
- Cornell LII, 35 U.S.C. § 102.
- European Patent Office, Article 54 EPC (Novelty), Article 55 EPC (Non-prejudicial disclosures) and Article 60 EPC (Right to a European patent).
Date your records at each milestone
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