Craig Wright Gets Green Light from British Court for Bitcoin Copyright Appeal
Court allows Craig Wright to make his case in Bitcoin copyright dispute, questioning his claim as the creator.
A British court has allowed Craig Wright to argue his case in a lawsuit about the copyright of Bitcoin (BTC). Wright, who has said since 2016 that he created Bitcoin, is suing 13 Bitcoin Core developers and several companies. He believes they have violated his copyright on the Bitcoin white paper, its file format, and the Bitcoin blockchain data.
This decision is different from a February ruling, which found Wright's arguments were not enough to prove he initially recorded the Bitcoin file format - a requirement for copyright protection. At that time, the court rejected Wright's request to stop Bitcoin and its variation, Bitcoin Cash, due to alleged intellectual property violations.
Wright claims his Bitcoin Satoshi Vision blockchain, which he created from a Bitcoin variation, is the original Bitcoin blockchain. However, a trial set to start in January 2024 will determine if Wright is really the unknown Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
In a previous court case in Oslo, witnesses provided evidence that questioned the truth of Wright's documents used to prove his claim as Nakamoto. The defense team for the developers argues that Wright has not provided any evidence to confirm he is Nakamoto. They believe Wright needs to prove his identity as Nakamoto before the court can discuss the main points of the lawsuit.
It's important to know that the Bitcoin code is open-source. It's freely distributed under a license from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, allowing users to reuse the code for any purpose. Despite this, Wright argues that the Bitcoin Core developers control the Bitcoin network as a centralized group called the "Bitcoin Partnership".
In another setback for Wright's claim as the Bitcoin creator, a recent investigation provided evidence suggesting Nakamoto might be a group of people. This conclusion is based on the use of "we" and "I" in the Bitcoin white paper and the different writing styles seen in Nakamoto's posts and emails.
