Australian computer scientist and self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright is facing a contempt of court case over his lawsuit against BTC Core developers and Jack Dorsey’s Square. UK Judge James Mellor put Wright’s lawsuit on hold until the applying is resolved on December 18.
Wright Faces Contempt Case For Bitcoin Core Lawsuit
On November 1, Craig Wright attended a court hearing regarding a contempt of court application for his £911 million lawsuit, price $1.2 billion, against Bitcoin Core developers and Square Up European Ltd.
As a response, the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) filed a contempt application form, arguing that Wright breached the injunction that resulted from the fundamental Bitcoin authorship trial.
As reported by Bitcoinist, British High Court Judge James Mellor ruled against Wright’s claims of being Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, earlier this yr. The Judge concluded that the Australian computer scientist had “extensively and repeatedly” lied in his written and oral evidence and forged documents on a grand scale to sustain his claims.
Consequentially, the court ordered Wright to confess he was not Satoshi Nakamoto and stop any further legal motion related to his disproved authorship claims.
In accordance with the court hearing transcription shared by BitMEX Research, the applying form argues that Wright breached the Court’s previous ruling after threatening to bring Precluded Proceedings and eventually doing so against Bitcoin Core and Square.
COPA's Contempt of Court application form. Source: BitMEX Research on X.
The self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto filed a lawsuit on October 10, claiming that BTC Core developers and “all affiliated parties” have misrepresented BTC as the unique Bitcoin.
Wright, representing himself on this lawsuit, argues that the Taproot and Segregated Witness (SegWit) upgrades “have caused confusion available in the market and have compromised the vision of the unique Bitcoin protocol.”
Furthermore, the pc scientist claims Bitcoin SV (BSV) is the true version of the flagship cryptocurrency and requested over $1 billion in damages for undermining the asset and making a misperception.
Wright Denies COPA’s Accusation
During today’s hearing, Wright, who attended via video call from Singapore, refuted the accusation, stating, “I don’t consider I’m in contempt, my lord.” He added that if the court found him in contempt, he could be willing to amend the case as he didn’t want to be in breach.
Previously, Wright explained on an X thread that he didn’t start his latest legal battle as Satoshi “but as someone who invested significantly within the system.” The pc scientist argues that his latest claim is “fundamentally different” from an identity claim because it is predicated on his “contributions to the event, maintenance, and extension of the Bitcoin blockchain.”
Judge Mellor decided to halt Wright’s lawsuit while the contempt application was resolved and scheduled the correspondent hearing for December 18. Nonetheless, Wright initially opposed making a physical appearance in court that day, claiming that his autism spectrum disorder (ASD) would prevent him from physically being in court.
Meanwhile, COPA’s legal representative, Jonathan Hough, argued that the seriousness of the allegation requires all parties to be in court:
That is a particularly serious judicial proceeding. Due to this fact, we expect it should happen in person. CSW has brought a really large claim, if there may be any merit in COPA’s application, it’s unsuitable in principle to cover behind a keyboard from a closet in Thailand. CSW says he’s a UK resident and needs to be expected to return to the UK for the hearing.
Ultimately, Judge Mellor set a further direction hearing date for November 26 to find out whether Wright can be present in court next month.
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