Why do we charge an annual subscription fee?

The most important part of our copyright proof certification is that we hold a copy of your original work files and certificates, so that when a dispute arises any time in the future, you can show independent date stamped evidence of creation using our system.

We charge a small annual membership fee of £44.15 (ex. VAT) to cover ongoing costs of providing that service, such as file storage, technical support, phone support, company management, server maintenance, website upgrades, security reviews as well as administration costs. This has allowed us to trade successfully since 2002 (over 20 years) and ensures we’ll be able to operate in perpetuity, balancing future costs of holding members' work with future subscription revenues, enabling us to continually hold your work and certificates and support you in the future when a dispute arises.

Protect My Work has many thousands of happy subscribers and we know our subscription business model works perfectly in perpetuity, so provides peace of mind for our members.

Some copyright providers charge large one-off payments for 'lifetime storage'. This may seem like good value, but actually it leaves creators vulnerable because without a continual stream of new customers the provider eventually goes bankrupt and creators copyright evidence is lost forever. In the past, many providers who offered this have gone bankrupt (for example 'Copyright Cover' and 'Duly Noted'), and so sadly creators who filed with them, have lost their copyright evidence.

Secondly, once you have paid a large upfront lifetime fee, the provider will offer little or no support at all, which is why none of them publish their customer reviews online for public reading.

Finally, it's not a good idea to pay large lifetime fees for each item of work if you are unsure they make money in the future, when you could have paid just £1 extra with our subscription pricing model instead.