Key Points
- UK High Court Judge James Mellor stated that Craig Wright lied in a trial about his copyright claims to Bitcoin’s code and whitepaper.
- The judge’s verdict concludes a years-long legal battle over the intellectual rights to the Bitcoin blockchain and database.
Craig Wright was accused of lying “extensively and repeatedly” during a trial about his various copyright claims to the code and whitepaper of Bitcoin.
Wright’s Claims and Evidence
UK High Court Judge James Mellor expressed this in a written judgment. He provided further details about his ruling in March, where he stated that Wright, who professes to be Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto, is not the pseudonymous developer.
Judge Mellor referred to Wright’s “clumsy… fabrications” and “forgeries” of documents “on a grand scale” as the basis for his decision. He said that all of Wright’s lies and forged documents were in support of his biggest lie: his claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto.
The Legal Battle
This judgment marks the end of a long legal dispute over the intellectual rights to the Bitcoin blockchain and database. During the trial, the defense presented evidence that allegedly supported Wright’s claims of being Satoshi, including documents featuring fonts that didn’t exist at the alleged time of their creation, and metadata showing some of the documents were created shortly before the trial.
The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) initiated a lawsuit against Wright in February 2021. The aim was to prevent Wright from asserting unmerited copyright claims over the Bitcoin whitepaper and code. Since 2019, Wright has taken legal action against several developers in an attempt to gain control over the Bitcoin network and silence critics of his claims.
Judge Mellor acknowledged the impact of Wright’s aggressive legal strategy on Bitcoin developers in his judgment. He cited Wright’s litigious nature as another reason for his decision in favor of COPA. He stated, “Due to his collaborative and non-confrontational nature, I consider it is most unlikely that Satoshi would ever have resorted to litigation against the Developers. Satoshi would have recognised that differences in views led to the hard forks in the Bitcoin Blockchain and moved on.”
