The ongoing legal dispute concerning the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the alleged creator of Bitcoin, and the associated rights to the cryptocurrency has recently witnessed a significant development.
A British judge has rescheduled the trial pitting Craig Wright against Bitcoin Core developers for February 5th.
In 2016, Craig Wright made headlines by claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto and subsequently initiated legal action against 13 Bitcoin Core developers and several companies, including Blockstream, Coinbase, and Block.
His lawsuit alleged copyright violations regarding Bitcoin’s white paper, file format, and blockchain database.
Represented by the non-profit Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA), the defendants have vehemently denied these claims.
During a pre-trial review on December 15th, Justice Edward James Mellor granted Craig Wright permission to submit an additional 97 documents supporting his assertion.
These documents had purportedly been discovered on two USB drives found in a drawer at his residence in September.
Notably, these files included LaTex documents, the open-source system used for drafting the Bitcoin white paper.
However, Bitcoin developers raised concerns of fabricated evidence, metadata manipulation, and procedural delays orchestrated by Wright.
They argued that the newly revealed documents were only disclosed after they had submitted 50 pieces of evidence, which they believed demonstrated the falsification of Wright’s previous materials.
Justice Mellor, in response to these concerns, ordered Wright to make an additional payment of 800,000 pounds (approximately $1 million) by January 5th, covering the legal costs of the developers in the event of Wright’s defeat.
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Wright had already deposited 100,000 pounds ($127,000) as a security payment.
Moreover, the judge mandated that Wright pay 65,000 pounds ($82,000) to cover COPA’s expenses associated with expert evidence regarding his Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Wright had claimed disability due to ASD and provided a report detailing adjustments required during the trial, including a list of cross-examination questions.
Cross-examination is a process where the opposing party poses questions to scrutinize or challenge a witness’s testimony.
Wright’s request for special accommodations due to his ASD was met with opposition from the developers, who enlisted an expert to support their objections.
Consequently, Wright will only be permitted to access the LiveNote Screen and write down questions on paper during the trial.
The heart of this dispute lies in the nature of Bitcoin’s open-source code, which is freely available under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology license, allowing for its use in various applications, including proprietary ones.
Wright’s argument contends that Bitcoin Core developers form a “Bitcoin Partnership” allegedly controlling Bitcoin, a contention hotly contested by those on the opposing side of the legal battle.
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