From the way I understand it, factom inserts a hash stating that a record exists but the actual record is kept off the blockchain? I might have this wrong. I read the whitepaper. Are the actual documents, i.e. videos, files, etc kept on Factom servers? Thanks.
There's nothing stopping you from doing it, but it is incredibly expensive to store data on the Factom chain. From the FAQ:
Factom is not intended for Data storage. The prices are projected at ~$1048/GB
Though still far cheaper than storing the data yourself on the Bitcoin blockchain, unless you are a billionaire it's not intended for data storage. It's for proof of existence and auditing purposes.
Say you had an invention but weren't ready to patent, you could make a hash of your file containing the idea, and as long as you keep that file you can prove ownership at a specific point in time that is indisputable.