Reston, VA – December 15, 2009 --
Surety, LLC, the leading provider of
data integrity protection solutions, today announced that the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), one of three Department of Energy (DOE) bio-energy research centers, has selected Surety’s AbsoluteProof
trusted time-stamping service to protect its valuable intellectual property. By seamlessly integrating the
AbsoluteProof functionality into its knowledge management system to “seal” its digital scientific and research data, JBEI can prove that its electronic records of invention and intellectual property are authentic and can legally defend its ownership of such data.
The Joint BioEnergy Institute is a San Francisco Bay Area scientific partnership led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and includes the Sandia National Laboratories, the University of California campuses of Berkeley and Davis, the Carnegie Institution for Science, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. JBEI’s scientific mission is to advance the development of next-generation biofuels.
“JBEI needed a bullet-proof solution for applying indisputable timestamps to the documentation of our innovations,” explained David Pletcher, Director of Informatics, JBEI. “Using Surety’s AbsoluteProof service, we can now demonstrate the timeline of our discoveries with compelling certainty, proving that our electronic records are authentic and that there is no possibility of tampering or backdating.”
To
protect its intellectual property, JBEI and other electronic research and development (eR&D)-focused organizations must be able to use their electronic records to prove first-to-invent status - and that the evidence has never been altered since. AbsoluteProof delivers independent and legally defensible proof that research data was created at a specific point in time and that the contents have not changed since that time, helping organizations to protect content integrity and prove rightful ownership. JBEI has integrated AbsoluteProof directly into Atlassian Confluence™, an open source, enterprise wiki solution that enables research teams and scientists to collaborate and share information. Confluence supports the secure management of knowledge throughout the scientific process, including interaction with external collaborators and data consumers.
Let Scientists Conduct Science – AbsoluteProof Eases the “Signing and Witnessing” Process
“We want to let our scientists focus on tackling the world’s desperate need for renewable energy without distracting them with cumbersome rituals,” Pletcher continues. “By integrating AbsoluteProof directly into Confluence, we ensure that all work is time-stamped automatically and effortlessly. Our researchers and management team members are very pleased with the convenience and usability of this system. Now we can authenticate any record in the system without burdening our research teams with administrative tasks.”
“We’re seeing more and more eR&D and life sciences organizations turning to simpler, more cost-effective
data integrity protection controls integrated into their workflows and lab informatics systems,” said Bob Flinton, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management for Surety. “We’re excited to have such a world-renowned research organization as a customer.”
Legally Defensible Proof of Authenticity
As a Surety customer, JBEI qualifies for
Surety’s Legal Defensibility Guarantee, delivering to JBEI the confidence that its critical electronic records, files and other digital content will withstand the most vigorous legal scrutiny. Under the guarantee, JBEI will receive access, if needed, to sworn affidavits and expert witness testimony to the quality of the underlying technology, confirming that the Seals provided by the AbsoluteProof service are authentic and have not been compromised, as well as a money-back guarantee should a federal, state or local court in any jurisdiction render a final and non-appealable decision that Surety has not been able to satisfy its claims.
Adds JBEI’s Pletcher, “Surety’s Legal Defensibility Guarantee was a compelling factor in our decision to adopt AbsoluteProof. I can rest easy knowing that Surety’s expert witnesses will be there for us in case of a legal dispute. Surety’s
widely-witnessed publication of weekly hash reference values in the
New York Times ensures that ‘sealed’ content can be confirmed independently, and that forgery and backdating are virtually impossible.”
About The Joint BioEnergy Institute
The Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) is a San Francisco Bay Area scientific partnership led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and including the Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia), the University of California (UC) campuses of Berkeley and Davis, the Carnegie Institution for Science and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). JBEI’s primary scientific mission is to advance the development of the next generation of biofuels – liquid fuels derived from the solar energy stored in plant biomass. JBEI is one of three new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs). For more information, please visit www.jbei.org.
About Surety, LLC
Founded in 1994 by leading Bellcore Scientists, Surety is recognized as a premiere third-party trusted timestamp authority. With millions of electronic records and files worldwide protected under its authenticity seal, the company's flagship service offering
AbsoluteProof® enables organizations to meet the legal, fiduciary and regulatory responsibilities associated with creating, managing and archiving electronic records, files and data by providing legally defensible evidence of data integrity and authenticity. AbsoluteProof ensures against content or record tampering by providing a “digital wax seal” for all types of electronically stored content. The company's client base is made up of pharmaceutical and bio-sciences organizations, legal and financial services firms, research and development laboratories, healthcare organizations, managed services providers and copyright protection agencies that are ensuring record integrity with AbsoluteProof. For more information, visit
www.surety.com.
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