Quote from Martin Schweiger on June 28, 2018, 1:23 pm

An i-DEPOT can serve as evidence that you have had possession of an artwork at a certain time. This is sometimes useful in the event of a dispute as to who was the first to create an artwork.

Please note that this helps in practice only sometimes and only for artworks that are protected by Copyright.

In the case of Trade Secrets and Know-How, it can also make sense to store them in a digital safe-deposit box, such as an i-DEPOT.

An i-DEPOT cannot serve as a basis for a priority for a patent application or utility model application. Art. 4.E(2) qualifies only patent applications  and utility model applications as a basis for claiming such a priority, see here
http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/text.jsp?file_id=288514#P83_6610

 

Quote from Martin Schweiger on December 27, 2018, 1:07 am

please check out this article here

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/here-why-i-depot-wrong-tool-protecting-inventions-marco-coolen/

"The usefulness of an i-depot for technical inventions is limited. Patents are granted to the first person applying for the patent, not to the one who made the invention first and kept it a secret. An i-depot might, however, be valuable in a conflict.

An i-depot may for instance be useful when negotiating with a potential partner. Should the other party apply for a patent, the inventor can use the i-depot as evidence that the party is not entitled to apply for a patent. The right to apply for a patent, after all, belongs to the inventor."