The Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) has announced that it has initiated a lawsuit to declare that Craig Wright does not have copyright ownership over the Bitcoin white paper.
“Today, COPA initiated a lawsuit asking the U.K. High Court to declare that Mr. Craig Wright does not have copyright ownership over the Bitcoin white paper,” COPA tweeted, along with an image of a High Court claim form.
Earlier this year, lawyers representing Wright demanded that some of those hosting the paper take it down, as Wright is the real person behind Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto and publicly hosting it violates his copyright. Bitcoin Core developers initially removed the white paper from bitcoin.org, for instance, for fear of legal retribution.
“The Bitoin white paper was included in the original Bitcoin project files with the project clearly published under the MIT license by Satoshi Nakamoto,” according to a followup statement from bitcoin.org, upon rehosting the paper. “We believe there is no doubt we have the legal right to host the Bitcoin white paper.”
Wright has continuously claimed that he is Satoshi and has been met with sustained incredulity from the Bitcoin community.
Now, COPA — which was formed by Square last year to combat stifling industry patents — is taking the legal battle to Wright.
“We stand in support of the Bitcoin developer community and the many others who’ve been threatened for hosting the white paper,” COPA tweeted.
In February, COPA shared the letter that its lawyers sent in response to Wright’s cease and desist letter regarding its own decision to host the Bitcoin white paper.