In a judgment dated 20 March 2025, the Tribunal judiciaire de Marseille (Marseille Judicial Court) held that a timestamp recorded on a public blockchain can constitute admissible evidence to establish ownership of copyright in fashion designs.
This is a first in French law and sends a strong signal in favour of recognising this technology as an evidentiary tool.
Why does this matter?
Until now, the use of blockchain to prove a date of creation faced a key difficulty: French courts had not explicitly recognised it as an admissible means of proof. This decision sends a positive message to users of the technology and strengthens the legal certainty of timestamped materials. By way of reminder, a public blockchain (such as Bitcoin or Ethereum) is a distributed and reputedly tamper-proof ledger, made up of blocks chained together and replicated across many servers. Timestamping a file consists of recording in a block the digital fingerprint (or hash) of that file.
This fingerprint then makes it possible, at any time and at low cost, to verify both a certain date and the integrity of the file.
Traditional evidentiary tools, such as a notarised authentic instrument (acte authentique) or the e-Soleau envelope, remain fully relevant, but they can be costly, cumbersome to implement or ill-suited to the pace of creation. In this context, blockchain timestamping offers a flexible, low-cost and immediate solution that is particularly useful for documenting a creative process which is often iterative and fragmented (sketches, email exchanges, digital files, etc.).
With this in mind, Santarelli offers its clients a blockchain timestamping service, enabling them to secure, on a continuous basis, each stage of their creative processes.
Summary of the decision
In tribute to its founder Albert Elbaz, the company AZ FACTORY created a collection incorporating the couturier’s drawings. The garments at issue — silk pyjamas — are characterised by sketches of Albert Elbaz, depicted in cartoon form and delivering love messages, over which AZ FACTORY claimed exclusive copyright.
In June 2022, AZ FACTORY discovered garments being sold on markets that reproduced the combination of original features of its models. It then brought proceedings against the company VALERIA MODA before the Tribunal judiciaire de Marseille for copyright infringement.
To establish that it held the economic rights in the works at issue, AZ FACTORY produced in particular:
- two bailiff’s reports recording the digital fingerprints of its sketches, anchored on a public blockchain;
- advertisements posted on YouTube and social networks showing the disclosure of the creations under its trade mark.
The court held that this evidence was consistent and recognised that the company was vested with the copyright in the works.
It then found that the garments in dispute were slavish copies of the works at issue and ordered VALERIA MODA to pay 11 900 € in damages in compensation for the harm resulting from the acts of copyright infringement, in addition to court costs and the amount awarded under Article 700 of the French Code of Civil Procedure.
This decision therefore marks the first explicit judicial recognition of a blockchain timestamp as valid evidence.
What are the takeaways for businesses?
CThis decision paves the way for broader use of blockchain to strengthen evidence of creation. It does not displace existing tools, but usefully complements them, particularly in situations where speed, frequency or low cost are decisive.
That said, certain precautions remain necessary:
- carefully document the timestamping procedure;
- keep the original files intact, together with their digital fingerprints;
- be able to link a timestamped file unambiguously to its author or rights holder.
When used correctly, blockchain can thus become a reliable, flexible evidentiary tool, well suited to the practical needs of creators, inventors and innovation teams.
Decision reference: Tribunal judiciaire de Marseille, 20 March 2025, RG No. 23/00046.
Novembre 2025
Contributing authors
Adrien Bétrancourt
Partner | Patent Attorney
Audrey Pichot
Attorney-at-law
