UK Court Allows Craig Wright To File Lawsuit Against Bitcoin.org

Bitcoin.org — one of many websites that host the original Bitcoin whitepaper — is allegedly managed by someone who goes by the codename Cøbra. London legislators have allowed Craig Wright, who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, to file a copyright lawsuit against them.

A new round of Cøbra vs Wright?

Craig Wright is the chief scientist of blockchain firm nChain and he has claimed to be Satoshi multiple times. He attempted to have the Bitcoin whitepaper taken down by websites hosting it, even though this goes against the original ethos of the Bitcoin project.

When the takedown request came, the staff at Bitcoin.org (among others) publicly stated their refusal to comply. Besides, Satoshi’s PGP key is well-known: this could be used to prove the authenticity of the claim, which Craig Wright has never done.

We will continue hosting the Bitcoin whitepaper and won’t be silenced or intimidated. Others hosting the whitepaper should follow our lead in resisting these false allegations. We believe these claims are without merit, and refuse to [take it down].

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Cøbra, domain owner of Bitcoin.org

It’s worth stressing that the court has not ruled in favour of Mr Wright in any way. The decision only allows the lawsuit to be filed — against an Internet pseudonym.

Furthermore, Cøbra has already expressed their disdain for the ruling, stating that they will not allow themselves to be bullied into compliance with Mr Wright’s demands. However, they have also stated that if they must give up their anonymity in order to fight to keep the whitepaper online, they are ready to do so. 

The Bitcoin whitepaper itself was published under a free and permissive MIT licence in 2008 and it has been hosted by numerous Internet activists, as well as governments.