the timestamp that proves you made it first. like a git commit but for intellectual property and it holds up in court.
Intellectual property registration at BOIP (Benelux Bureau for Intellectual Property). The AI Control Index is registered as i-DEPOT 158508, providing timestamped proof of creation and authorship. An i-DEPOT does not grant intellectual property rights — it provides officially certified evidence that a specific creation existed at a specific date. In IP disputes, this evidence establishes prior creation, prior art, and authorship provenance.
Why It Matters
In intellectual property, the question that determines everything is: who made it first? Copyright arises automatically upon creation in most jurisdictions, but proving when creation occurred is a different problem entirely. The i-DEPOT solves this problem by providing an officially timestamped, sealed record from a recognised intellectual property authority.
For frameworks, methodologies, and governance approaches — which cannot be patented and are protected primarily by copyright and trade secret law — proof of prior creation is the primary defensive mechanism. When a competitor publishes a similar framework, when a former consultant adapts your methodology, when a derivative work appears without attribution, the question is always the same: can you prove you created it first?
The AI Control Index is registered as i-DEPOT 158508 at BOIP. This registration establishes, with official certification, the date, content, and authorship of the framework. It is the governance equivalent of eating your own cooking: a framework built on the principle that claims without evidence are not governance uses evidence to prove its own provenance.
The Stress Test
A consulting firm publishes a “new” AI governance framework that shares substantial structural similarities with yours. Their publication date is three months after your i-DEPOT registration date. You contact them. They claim independent creation. You produce the i-DEPOT certificate: officially timestamped, sealed by BOIP, containing the complete framework as it existed at registration. The certificate is admissible evidence in courts across the Benelux, and recognised in IP proceedings across the EU.
Without the i-DEPOT, the dispute would be your word against theirs, with blog post timestamps and document metadata as informal evidence. With the i-DEPOT, you have an official record from a recognised IP authority. The evidentiary asymmetry is decisive.
In the Wild
BOIP’s i-DEPOT system has processed over 100,000 registrations since its inception. The system is used by inventors, designers, entrepreneurs, and creative professionals across the Benelux to establish proof of prior creation. Registrations include inventions (prior to patent filing), designs, brand concepts, business plans, software architectures, literary works, and — increasingly — methodologies and frameworks. The i-DEPOT has been cited as evidence in proceedings before national courts in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, as well as in opposition proceedings at intellectual property offices.
The i-DEPOT does not make you the owner. Copyright does that automatically. The i-DEPOT makes it provable. In IP disputes, provable is everything.
The growth of AI governance as a field has created a proliferation of frameworks, many sharing structural similarities. Distinguishing between independent parallel development, legitimate inspiration, and unauthorised copying is a recurring challenge. Several governance framework creators have faced situations where consulting firms, advisory practices, or competing organisations published substantially similar methodologies without attribution. In cases where the original creator had no timestamped proof of prior creation, enforcement was impractical. In cases where timestamped proof existed — through i-DEPOT, blockchain timestamping, or other mechanisms — the disputes were resolved more quickly and favourably.
A framework without proof of creation date is a framework anyone can claim. Timestamp your IP or accept that you cannot defend it.
In IP litigation across the EU, establishing prior creation requires evidence that meets specific evidentiary standards: the evidence must be reliable (not easily fabricated), dated (timestamped by a trusted third party), complete (showing the creation in its relevant form), and authentic (tamper-evident or officially certified). Informal evidence — file metadata, email timestamps, web archive captures — can be challenged on reliability grounds. Official registrations like i-DEPOT meet all four criteria by design: they are issued by a recognised IP authority, timestamped at registration, contain a sealed copy of the creation, and are certified as authentic.
The court does not ask whether you created it. The court asks whether you can prove you created it at the date you claim. The i-DEPOT is the proof.
How to Govern It
IP provenance is a governance artifact. Treat it like one.
Within the AI Control Index, IP registration connects to the Evidence Factory and the broader governance approach:
- Evidence of Provenance — The i-DEPOT is itself a governance artifact: timestamped, certified, and stored. It demonstrates the framework’s principle that claims require evidence — applied to the framework’s own existence.
- Version Registration — As the framework evolves, subsequent versions are registered to maintain a continuous chain of provenance. Each version’s i-DEPOT establishes not just creation, but the timeline of development.
- Mandatory Artifact — For organisations building proprietary AI governance frameworks, methodologies, or tools, IP registration should be treated as a mandatory governance artifact — not an afterthought.
- GRC Integration (S1) — IP registrations are catalogued in the GRC shield alongside other governance artifacts. The registration number, date, scope, and renewal status are tracked as part of the organisation’s IP governance.
- Defensive Publication — Where patent protection is not sought, i-DEPOT combined with publication establishes prior art that prevents others from patenting the same approach. The timestamp proves the creation predates any subsequent patent filing.
When It's Relevant
Any organisation that creates proprietary AI governance frameworks, methodologies, assessment tools, or classification systems. If your governance approach is original work — and you intend to defend it as intellectual property — the creation date must be provable.
i-DEPOT registration is most relevant when:
- You have developed a proprietary framework, methodology, or tool that represents original work
- You operate in a field where similar approaches may emerge independently or be adapted from your work
- You license your methodology to clients and need to prove provenance in licensing agreements
- You need to establish prior art to prevent others from patenting approaches you developed first
- You are publishing a framework under a specific licence (e.g., CC BY-NC-ND) and need evidence of the original to enforce licence terms
Related Terms
References
- [1] Benelux Bureau for Intellectual Property (2024) i-DEPOT: Proof of the Date of Your Idea. BOIP, The Hague. Available at: boip.int/en/entrepreneurs/ideas/i-depot.
- [2] Benelux Convention on Intellectual Property (2005) The Hague: Benelux Organisation for Intellectual Property.
- [3] European Parliament and Council of the European Union (2019) Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market. Official Journal of the European Union, L 130/92.
- [4] WIPO (2024) Understanding Copyright and Related Rights. World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva. WIPO Publication No. 909.
- [5] Bently, L. and Sherman, B. (2014) Intellectual Property Law. 4th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
AI Control Index v6.0 · Glossary · June 2026 · i-DEPOT 158508 (BOIP) · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
By Jeroen Janssen, Apparens