Bitcoin’s file format cannot be copyrighted, a UK judge has found, ruling against self-proclaimed cryptocurrency inventor Craig Wright.
Wright, who says he wrote the 2008 bitcoin white paper under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakomoto, had sought to argue that he should be able to block the operation of bitcoin (BTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH) because they violate his intellectual property rights.
In a Tuesday ruling, Judge James Mellor said bitcoin’s file format — the sequence of a header and a list of transactions that together form a block — cannot be treated as a literary work. , for Wright cannot show how they were first. recorded, a test known in copyright law as fixation.
“I see no prospect of law as presently set forth and understood in the case law permitting copyright protection of subject matter which is nowhere expressed or fixed,” Mellor said in a ruling. of the High Court of England and Wales.
“It remains the case that no relevant ‘work’ has been identified containing content that defines the structure of the Bitcoin file format”, although Wright and the two investment firms making the claim were given “ample opportunity to do so, added Mellor. .
The lawsuit was filed against a host of defendants associated with Bitcoin, including several Coinbase crypto exchange units. Wright said the Bitcoin Satoshi (BSV) version is the authentic form of cryptocurrency.
Claims of copyright to the 2008 White Paper, and whether Wright really is the author, will be decided later, the judge said.
In a case heard in Oslo last year, multiple witnesses provided forensic evidence that documents provided by Wright claiming to support his claim to be Nakomoto contain discrepancies, such as fonts that were not available at the time.
