- The Bitcoin whitepaper might soon be available from Bitcoin.org for UK users following Craig Wright’s defeat to COPA
- UK users have been prevented from viewing the Bitcoin whitepaper on Bitcoin.org since June 2021 due to legal action from Wright
- Wright’s defeat to COPA has invalidated his claim to have copyright over the Bitcoin whitepaper, possibly bringing back the whitepaper for Brits
UK users have been prevented from viewing the Bitcoin whitepaper on the home of Bitcoin, Bitcoin.org, since June 2021 thanks to the fraudulent actions of Craig Wright. This could finally be about to change, however, following Wright’s seismic defeat to the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) in March. Wright’s defeat means he has no claim to anything involving Bitcoin in the UK, which might bring the whitepaper back for Brits after a three-year absence.
Default Judgment Saw Whitepaper Banned For UK Visitors
The Bitcoin whitepaper saga began in January 2021 when Wright requested that bitcoin.org and bitcoincore.org take down the Bitcoin whitepaper, claiming that it infringed his copyright as Satoshi Nakamoto. bitcoincore.org acquiesced, not desirous of a legal battle over the matter, but bitcoin.org, and its operator Cobra Bitcoin, refused.
This led to Wright taking the matter to court where he won a default judgment after Cobra Bitcoin refused to divulge his identity, losing the case before it even started. This resulted in the whitepaper and the Bitcoin Core software being made unavailable for UK users, with a quote from Satoshi Nakamoto taking its place:
It takes advantage of the nature of information being easy to spread but hard to stifle.
Wright famously lost his one-court-case-to-end-them-all against COPA in March, since when Cobra Bitcoin has felt confident in taking steps to remedy the UK block:
Things could get even better, however, with this month’s written ruling from Justice Mellor containing a mention of the Cobra Bitcoin case:
The claim was for infringement of copyright in the Bitcoin White Paper. Dr Wright secured Judgment in default of acknowledgement of service and defence by the Order of HHJ Hodge QC dated 28 June 2021, which includes an injunction preventing the defendants from infringing copyright in the Bitcoin White Paper, whether by making the Paper available for download or in any other way. To the extent necessary, the status of that Order can be considered at the Form of Order hearing following hand down of this Judgment.
This Form of Order hearing is taking place on 7 June, where a number of issues, including Wright’s punishment for the “deliberate production of false documents to support false claims” will be decided. It seems, therefore, that the situation concerning the whitepaper on bitcoin.org will also be decided at this meeting, which may well result in an immediate order squashing the ruling.
Given COPA’s ruling, Wright certainly has no legal basis for a copyright claim, and seeing as Cobra Bitcoin will not want to divulge his identity in pursuit of his own legal remedy, Justice Mellor may end up doing the leg work for him with a few well-chosen words.
