Craig Wright's Bitcoin Copyright Claim is Rejected by a UK Judge

In an attempt to obtain copyright protection for the Bitcoin blockchain, computer scientist Craig Wright lost his case in a UK court.

A U.K. court ruled that the file format used by the Bitcoin blockchain cannot be copyright protected. Craig Wright, a self-proclaimed inventor, was judged to be wrong by the judge.

Wright had argued he should indeed be entitled to prevent the functioning of Bitcoin and the platform that branched from it, Bitcoin Cash, because both violate his intellectual property rights. Wright claims he developed the 2008 Bitcoin white paper beneath pseudonym Satoshi Nakomoto.

Wright's lawsuit was filed against a large number of Bitcoin-related plaintiffs, including various branches of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. Wright asserts that the Bitcoin Satoshi Vision blockchain, which he forked off of another Bitcoin, is the genuine Bitcoin blockchain.

Wright said that Bitcoin forks—spin-offs developed from the cryptocurrency—violate his intellectual property rights since he invented the initial digital asset. Wright has repeatedly maintained that he is Bitcoin's fictitious founder Satoshi Nakamoto.

The largest Bitcoin fork, Bitcoin Cash, is the 28th-largest digital money with a capitalisation of $2.56 billion, according to CoinGecko. There have been several Bitcoin forks.

On Tuesday, a UK court rejected the claim, with Judge James Mellor stating:

“Whilst I accept that the law of copyright will continue to face challenges with new digital technologies, I do not see any prospect of the law as currently stated and understood in the caselaw allowing copyright protection of subject-matter which is not expressed or fixed anywhere.”

The Judge was addressing the problem of fixation, which is when anything qualifies for copyright protection simply because it survives in its original state. No pertinent “work” demonstrating the genesis of Bitcoin, he claimed.

Wright's claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto has not been validated. The most convincing method to do this would be to show that he had the encryption information to Satoshi's Bitcoin address; however, Wright's attorneys informed Decrypt in 2020 that he did not. The Australian made a suggestion in December that he might not care as much if people think he is the real architect of Bitcoin.

Wright is presently suing 15 Bitcoin programmers in an effort to recover about 111,000 bitcoins after he reportedly misplaced the encrypted access keys after his personal computer system was attacked. It may proceed to trial, a London judge ruled this week.

Later judgements will address claims relating to copyright to the 2008 white paper as well as whether Wright is actually the author, the judge stated. The UK last week A Wright's Tulip Trading lawsuit against 16 Bitcoin programmers will be tried in London, the Court of Appeal decided.

Several eyewitnesses provided evidence at the scene in a court hearing in Oslo last year that information supplied by Wright claiming to justify his claim to be Nakomoto have inconsistencies, such as fonts that weren't readily accessible at the time.

As a reminder, WikiBit is ready to help you search the qualifications and reputation of projects in a bid to protect you from hidden dangers in this risky industry!

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