Craig Wright, the self-professed creator of Bitcoin, has won a court ruling in a copyright claim regarding the hosting of the Bitcoin whitepaper on Bitcoin.org.
The mysterious Satoshi Nakomoto has an identity, that is according to Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist and businessman who in 2016 claimed to be the figure behind the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. While his claims have mostly been laughed at and viewed as bogus attempts to retrieve large amounts of bitcoin, the businessman has recently won a court ruling that will effectively remove the whitepaper from bitcoin.org.
A judge on the case has ruled that bitcoin.org, operated by “Cøbra”, must remove the whitepaper from its website. The defendant in question, who goes by the pseudonym “Cøbra” to protect their identity, chose not to mount any defense in order to protect their anonymity. As part of the ruling, Cøbra was also required to pay £35,000 in legal costs and present the judgement on the website.
While this may be the first victory for Craig Wright, it is certainly not the first court case he has been involved in, as part of his wider attempts to prove he is the creator of Bitcoin. Wright has launched a number of court cases over the past few years, most recently bringing a London high court lawsuit against 16 software developers in an effort to secure bitcoin worth around £4bn pounds that he claims belongs to him.
Paul Ferguson, of the law firm Ontier, which is representing Wright, stated:
“Our client has always maintained that he created bitcoin to operate within existing laws and that in the event of loss or theft, where legitimate ownership can be proven, the developers have a duty to ensure recovery,”
The Guardian newspaper published Cøbra’s response to the claims prior to the final ruling, stating via email:
“We’ve been threatened to take down the bitcoin white paper by someone who obviously isn’t the inventor of bitcoin (if he was, that would make him the 25th richest person in the world, which he obviously isn’t)”
While the most recent judgement has ruled in the favour of Wright, it remains to be seen whether Cøbra will actually abide by the ruling, and pay the legal fees.
The identity of Nakamoto has added to the mystery and almost mythical status of Bitcoin. The surge in popularity of bitcoin over the past year, has perhaps added to the urgency of Wright’s claims to be recognised as the creator of cryptocurrency. With the recent dip in the market, however, it will be interesting to see how future rulings go forward.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
