Craig Wright, who claims to be the inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, has been granted an appeal to argue his case that the Bitcoin file format should receive copyright protection under UK law. This ruling was made by a bench of three UK judges, according to a court filing.
The Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit set up by former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey to assist developers facing lawsuits, stated that the ruling means the judges only agreed that Dr. Wright should be allowed to argue that the Bitcoin file format is sufficiently well-defined to receive copyright protection under UK law. The Defense Fund also cautioned that the fact that the UK courts are allowing his arguments … sets a dangerous precedent where developers can be sued for violating the file format of open source software that someone else claims to have created.
Whether Wright is indeed Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto will be determined at a trial slated to begin in January 2024. Lawyers for Wright said he was pleased with the outcome, and acknowledged the high stakes of the case. Damon Parker, a partner at U.K. law firm Harcus Parker, said in a statement that this ruling enables Dr. Wright to advance his claim for copyright in the Bitcoin File Format which potentially affects all future use, and marketing, of Bitcoin and will prove to be a crucial development in intellectual property law.