‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ shows up to challenge Wright’s Bitcoin white paper win

The battle for the Bitcoin white paper took a fresh twist this week when someone else claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto reportedly made a legal play for educational portal Bitcoin.org.

Back in July, self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator Craig Wright won a default judgment in London’s High Court that ordered “Cøbra,” the pseudonymous owner of Bitcoin.org, to cease serving the document to the UK.

But Cøbra tweeted Monday to reveal the court set a date to hear an appeal against that judgment — brought by somebody identifying as Bitcoin’s Nakamoto, who disappeared way back in 2011.

Wright began copyright proceedings against Cøbra in February, shortly after he threatened to sue anyone hosting the Bitcoin white paper without his permission.

The whitepaper case just got a lot more interesting: a new person claiming to be “Satoshi Nakamoto” has applied to the court to undo my default judgement.

Rather than dismiss it outright, the court seems interested and has fixed a hearing to hear the appeal.

Thanks “Satoshi”.

— Cøbra (@CobraBitcoin) September 6, 2021

This is despite Nakamoto originally sharing the document under the permissive MIT Software License, which allows anyone to freely use, modify, copy, distribute, and publish it.

Due to Cøbra not residing in the UK and repeatedly refusing to reveal their real identity, Wright was forced to serve the lawsuit via email.

And although Cøbra initially claimed they were happy to continue fighting the litigation-happy Australian businessman, they failed to respond within the set 22-day window — handing a default win to Wright.

It’s worth noting that despite Wright’s legal “victory,” he still hasn’t produced any concrete proof he’s Satoshi.

Wright could sign to prove Satoshi claim

Wright has maintained he penned the 2008 Bitcoin white paper since Wired first floated his claim to the Satoshi moniker in 2015.

However, few have taken the claims seriously.

Most industry insiders agree Wright only has to sign a transaction using a private associated with any block known to have been mined by Bitcoin’s creator in its early years (or just move some early BTC).

Wright still hasn’t done that.

Read more: [Finney ‘most likely’ Bitcoin’s Satoshi Nakamoto, say researchers]

And while Cøbra’s Bitcoin.org must refrain from serving the Bitcoin white paper to the UK, Protos previously reported that well over 100 websites still do.

Not to mention, the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) — led by Jack Dorsey’s Square — filed a civil lawsuit in April to demand Wright prove he’s Satoshi in a bid to settle the matter.

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