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How to prove you created a logo (and what that proof does not show)

By the logoBlockchain team · 9 November 2026 · 8 min read

Not legal advice. This article is general information, not legal advice, and laws differ by country. A logoblockchain registry entry is evidence that a specific file existed at a point in time. It is not a trademark or copyright registration and does not by itself establish ownership. For decisions about protecting or using a brand, talk to a qualified attorney or registered trademark professional in your jurisdiction.

If someone ever asks “who made this logo first?”, the honest answer is rarely a single document. It is a small pile of evidence that points in the same direction. This guide explains what “proof of creation” actually means, which kinds of evidence are strong or weak, how a file hash and a timestamp fit in, and — just as important — what none of it proves.

What “proof of creation” means

In everyday speech, “proof” sounds absolute. In practice, whether you are talking to a client, a platform’s dispute team, or a lawyer, it means something more modest: evidence that makes one account of events more believable than another. For a logo, the account you usually want to support is simple: “I had this exact design, in this form, on or before this date — and I am the person who made it.”

That sentence contains three separate claims, and different kinds of evidence support different parts of it. Mixing them up is the most common mistake people make when they try to “prove” a logo. A dated file can be very strong evidence of when something existed while saying almost nothing about who drew it.

The three questions evidence has to answer

1. What exactly existed?

“A blue bird logo” is not a design; a specific SVG file with specific curves is. The more precisely you can point to the exact artwork, the more useful your evidence becomes. This is why the original working files matter so much more than a screenshot or a description.

2. When did it exist?

Dates are easy to state and surprisingly hard to make trustworthy. File-system dates (the “created” and “modified” times your computer shows) change when files are copied, synced, or restored from a backup, and anyone can edit them. Dates that come from somebody else’s system — an email provider, a cloud service, a public blockchain — are harder to fake, because you do not control them.

3. Who made it?

Authorship is the hardest part. It is usually shown by context: the sketches that came before the final file, the messy intermediate versions, the conversation with the client, the invoice, the account that published it. A single polished file proves very little about authorship on its own, because anyone could have obtained a copy.

Evidence you probably already have

Before thinking about anything new, look at what your normal work already produces. Much of it is good evidence if you keep it.

• Source files with history. Layered design files (Figma, Illustrator, Affinity, Inkscape) and especially their version history. A sequence of drafts that gradually turns into the final mark is far more persuasive than the final mark alone.
• Sketches and early explorations. Paper sketches you photographed, mood boards, rejected directions. Keep them even when they are embarrassing — they are evidence of a creative process.
• Email and messages. Sending a draft to a client, a collaborator, or even yourself creates a record held by a third party (the email provider) with its own dates and headers.
• Cloud storage version history. Many cloud drives keep previous versions of files with server-side dates. Check how long your provider keeps them; some delete old versions after a set period.
• Code repositories. If the logo lives in a website or app repository, commits record when the asset was added or changed. Commit dates are set by the committer’s machine, so they are weaker on their own, but a repository pushed to a hosted service also has the host’s records.
• Business records. Briefs, quotes, invoices, and payment confirmations tie the work to a project, a client, and a period of time.
• Public use. The date your website, app, packaging, or social profile started showing the logo. Third-party archives of public web pages can sometimes help here, though they are not complete.

None of these is perfect. Together, they tell a coherent story, and coherence is what makes evidence persuasive.

Why a hash timestamp is different

Most of the evidence above depends on records that you or a company keeps, which can be lost, edited, or simply hard to obtain years later. A cryptographic timestamp adds something that does not depend on anyone’s goodwill or record-keeping.

It works in two steps. First, you compute a file hash: a short fingerprint of the exact bytes of your file, such as a SHA-256 hash (if that term is new, our guide to SHA-256 for designers explains it with examples). Change a single pixel and the fingerprint changes completely. Second, that fingerprint is committed to a public record that cannot be quietly rewritten, such as the Bitcoin blockchain, at a known time.

Later, anyone can take your file, compute its hash again, and check that the same hash was committed at that time. If it matches, that shows the exact file existed no later than the timestamp. You do not need to trust the person who made the timestamp, and you do not need to publish the logo itself — only its fingerprint is public.

This is what logoblockchain does when you register a logo:

1. Your browser computes the file’s SHA-256 hash and a perceptual hash (a fingerprint that stays similar when an image is resized or recompressed). The original file is not uploaded; you can optionally include a small 96-pixel thumbnail on the public certificate.
2. The registration is added to a public, append-only hash chain. Each entry’s hash includes the previous entry’s hash, so older entries cannot be changed without breaking every entry after them.
3. Once a day, the newest entry hash (the “head” of the chain) is submitted to public OpenTimestamps calendar servers, which commit it to Bitcoin. Because the head depends on every earlier entry, committing the head also commits all entries before it.
4. Each registration gets a public certificate page showing the hashes, the time, and the anchoring status. You or anyone else can check a file against the registry on the verify page.

For more on the Bitcoin side, including why it is a reasonable choice and what its limits are, see the How it works page.

A step-by-step routine for every logo

The best evidence is boring and consistent. Here is a routine that takes a few minutes per project.

1. Decide what the “final” file is. Export the master version you will actually use — typically an SVG or a high-resolution PNG. If you have several lockups (horizontal, stacked, icon), treat each as its own file. Our guide to logo file formats covers which ones to keep.
2. Never edit that exported file again. Re-saving, even without visible changes, often changes the bytes and therefore the hash. If you update the logo, export a new file and treat it as a new version.
3. Timestamp it. Register the file on logoblockchain (free), or use the OpenTimestamps tools directly if you prefer. Either way, the file itself stays with you.
4. Keep the exact file safe. A timestamp only helps if you can later produce the identical bytes. Store the file in at least two places — for example your computer and a cloud backup — and include the certificate link or receipt next to it.
5. Archive the process. Put the sketches, drafts, source file, and key emails in the same project folder. Name the folder with the date and project.
6. Write a short note. Two or three sentences: who commissioned it, who designed it, which tools were used, when it was delivered. A note written at the time is more credible than a recollection written years later.

What a timestamp does not prove

A timestamp is narrow by design. Being clear about its limits is what keeps it useful.

• It does not prove you were first. It proves your file existed no later than a certain time. Someone else may have created something similar earlier without ever timestamping it.
• It does not prove authorship by itself. A registry entry records the display name chosen by the account holder and that the account’s email was confirmed. It does not check who actually drew the logo. That is why the process evidence above still matters.
• It does not prove originality. A timestamped copy of someone else’s work is still a copy. Only register work you created or have the right to use.
• It does not cover similar designs automatically. A SHA-256 hash matches one exact file. The perceptual hash helps find look-alikes, but “looks similar to a computer” is not the same as “legally similar.”
• It is not a trademark or copyright registration. It grants no exclusive rights. How a timestamp relates to trademarks and copyright is covered in proof of creation vs. trademark.

If you design logos for clients

Designers have a particular reason to keep good records: the question “did you design this, or did you copy it?” can come from a client, a competitor, or a platform at any time. A few habits help:

• Timestamp the concepts you present, not just the chosen one. Unused concepts are part of your portfolio and your process.
• Agree in writing who owns the final design and any rejected concepts. That is a contract question, not a timestamp question, and it is worth getting right early.
• Give the client the final files together with the certificate links, so their records and yours match.
• If you use stock elements, fonts, or AI-generated material, note it and keep the relevant licences. A timestamp says nothing about whether you had the right to use the parts inside a logo.

If you want extra recordkeeping on top of the free registry, the optional logoBlockchain Verified plan ($5 per year, per logo) adds a public seal, a downloadable PDF certificate, an evidence bundle, look-alike email notices, and linked version history. It is the same kind of evidence — a record of when a file existed — presented more conveniently. It does not add legal protection.

Checklist

• Exported final file, never edited afterwards
• File hash timestamped (registry certificate or OpenTimestamps receipt)
• Exact file stored in two places, with the certificate link beside it
• Sketches, drafts, and source files archived in a dated folder
• Key emails or messages saved
• Short contemporaneous note: who, what, when, which tools
• Licences for fonts or stock elements kept

None of this is complicated. The value comes from doing it every time, at the time — not from trying to reconstruct it after a dispute starts.

Reminder: general information only, not legal advice. A registry entry is proof that a file existed at a time, not trademark or copyright registration.