Copyright arises without registration, so proof of copyright ownership depends on the evidence you can show when a dispute starts. In Spain, registering the work with the Intellectual Property Registry creates a rebuttable presumption that the registered rights exist and belong to the holder; a notarial deed proves the date and content of what was deposited; and a qualified electronic time stamp is presumed accurate as to date and integrity across the EU. None of them, on its own, proves who created the work. This guide compares them for companies managing works in several countries.<\/p>\n
The Berne Convention<\/a> forbids making protection conditional on any formality, and its Article 15(1) presumes that the person named on the work in the usual manner is its author. Spain applies the same rule in Article 6 of the Spanish Copyright Act (TRLPI)<\/a>: whoever appears as author by name, signature or identifying sign is presumed to be the author, unless proven otherwise.<\/p>\n That presumption is weak where it matters most for businesses: unsigned code, design files, campaign concepts, photographs without credits or works created by teams. When a former contractor, a competitor or a platform disputes who created a work first, the question becomes evidential: what can you show, and what legal weight does it carry?<\/p>\nWhat each method proves: registry, notary, time stamps<\/h2>\n