Dr Craig Wright, a supporter of the Bitcoin SV blockchain, has won his case against the owner of Bitcoin.org over a copyright issue with the Bitcoin whitepaper that the website had published “without permission”.
Cøbra will therefore no longer be able to make the Bitcoin whitepaper available for download in the UK (whether from bitcoin.org or otherwise) and has been forced by the London court to publish a statement on its Bitcoin.org website acknowledging judgment for no less than 6 months. In addition, Cøbra will have to pay about 35,000 GBP ($48,600) for Wright’s legal fees.
The reaction of Bitcoin.org
All your fiat based assets are ultimately secured by the same legal system that today made it illegal for me to host the Bitcoin whitepaper because a notorious liar swore before a judge that he’s Satoshi. A system where ‘justice’ depends on who’s got the bigger wallet.
— Cøbra (@CobraBitcoin) June 28, 2021
Although the creator of Bitcoin.org is anonymous, which would make it difficult to force him to pay, Cøbra rightly explained that he could risk his website being taken down.
“If I refuse to comply with the order, it’s probable [that] UK ISP’s will be ordered to block [Bitcoin.org] for copyright infringement.”
After Craig Wright’s victory, does the whitepaper remain free?
Wright’s lawyers say that they do not want to restrict the ability to publish the whitepaper but it should not be used to support Bitcoin Core’s case.
Simon Cohen, senior associate at law firm Onter, explained:
“Dr Wright does not wish to restrict access to his White Paper. However, he does not agree that it should be used by supporters and developers of alternative assets, such as Bitcoin Core, to promote or otherwise misrepresent those assets as being Bitcoin given that they do not support or align with the vision for Bitcoin as he set out in his White Paper.”
What happened with the Bitcoin whitepaper?
In May 2019, Craig Wright, self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto, i.e. the inventor of Bitcoin and therefore the author of the whitepaper, had filed a copyright claim for the document, thereby declaring his ownership of it.
Then, in January 2021, Wright decided to claim copyright on the Bitcoin whitepaper and threatened the Bitcoin.org portal with legal action because it published the paper in its entirety in a context that, according to Wright, was unfair because it supported Bitcoin Core and not Bitcoin SV.
According to Wright, in fact, Bitcoin SV is the true version of Bitcoin and the whitepaper, written by him, describes BSV and not BTC.
The post Craig Wright wins the case related to Bitcoin’s whitepaper appeared first on The Cryptonomist.
