Self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto gets a chance to argue over Bitcoin copyrights

This article briefly:

Dr. Craig Steven Wright, self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, will present his case in a UK court.

Wright has made several attempts to claim copyright to Bitcoin, including the file format, white paper, and parts of the database.

· Although Wright won his case in the UK in 2021, unless he can prove that he is Satoshi, the chances of success are still slim.

A British court will hear the case of Dr. Craig Steven Wright, the self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto.

The Australian computer scientist, who believes the bitcoin file format should be protected under UK copyright law, will now have the opportunity to present his case to a judge.

**Who is Craig Wright? **

Dr. Craig Steven Wright is an Australian computer scientist with a long association with the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

Speculation that Wright was the inventor of bitcoin first began circulating in 2015 following investigations by Wired and Gizmodo. However, shortly after this report was published, Wired reported that Wright may have faked his leads with Satoshi.

In the years since, Wright himself has publicly claimed that he wrote the Bitcoin white paper with the participation of two other men, Dave Kleiman and Hal Finney.

When asked to weigh in on the matter, ChatGPT listed Wright as one of the top three speculations about Satoshi's identity. The chatbot provided the statistical likelihood of different candidates becoming the inventor of Bitcoin, indicating that Nick Szabo was the most likely to support Bitcoin, followed by Hal Finney and Craig Wright.

No evidence without Nakamoto's PGP key

While Dr. Wright continues to insist that he played a role in the foundation of Bitcoin, many are skeptical of his claims.

Skeptics point out that the real Satoshi could confirm their identity by providing a message verified with Satoshi's PGP key. Since 2010, there have been no public reports of verification in this way.

Satoshi Nakamoto's PGP public key (Source: Nakamoto Research Institute)

Attempt to copyright bitcoin

Beginning in 2019, Wright made several attempts to claim copyright to the Bitcoin file format, the Bitcoin white paper, and portions of the Bitcoin database. But so far, he has had little success.

For example, the U.S. Copyright Office rejected Wright’s claims and suggested that no one can register a copyright on Bitcoin.

In a press release issued at the time, it stated:

"In cases where a work is registered under a pseudonym, the Copyright Office will not investigate whether there is a demonstrable link between the applicant and the author of the pseudonym."

Craig Wright had better luck in the UK

While Wright appears to have given up on trying in the U.S., he believes U.K. intellectual property law might be more favorable to his cause, and he has had some success in U.K. courts.

In 2021, Wright won a lawsuit against the operators of bitcoin.org. The anonymous operator, known as Cobra, was ordered to pay Wright's legal fees and take down the bitcoin white paper hosted on its website.

However, Wright's victory was largely symbolic, with the court acquiescing in his favor after Cobra failed to enter a defence. Under UK law, defendants cannot make legal arguments anonymously without a court order.

To this day, Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper is still freely available on bitcoin.org. It was not immediately clear whether Cobra paid the court-ordered legal fees.

Court Will Consider Bitcoin Copyright Claims

In 2022, Wright tried again to claim the Bitcoin copyright.

The lawsuit names a list of defendants dubbed "Bitcoin Core." Wright claims that there are twenty-five individuals and companies in the collective controlling the Bitcoin network. These include many well-known Bitcoin developers as well as companies such as Block Inc, Chaincode, and Coinbase.

Initially, Judge Edward James Mailer rejected the claim. Judge Mailer said that even assuming the claimant was Satoshi, he had failed to satisfactorily identify the specific "work" that would be subject to a copyright claim.

This week, however, an appeals court overturned the preliminary judgment.

The case is currently expected to go to trial in early 2024. But Wright is still a long way from victory.

Victory depends on proving the identity of Satoshi

Commenting on the appeal ruling, the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund (BLDF) noted that Wright has won in court. But unless he can prove that he is indeed Satoshi, his chances of success are slim.

Additionally, the Bitcoin file format, white paper, and database are all open source and distributed under Satoshi Nakamoto's free software license. Even if Wright proves that he is the real Satoshi Nakamoto, his claims still do not hold water.

In the words of the BLDF, "It is unreasonable that someone claiming to be the author of an open source program would accuse someone who benefits from its open source license for copyright infringement."