Cøbra, the pseudonymous operator behind the website bitcoin.org, must reveal his identity if he wants to challenge the legal costs demanded by the self-proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin, Craig Wright. The decision came from the High Court of London, the body that judges the dispute between the two. As CriptoFácil reported, Cøbra lost a case against Wright in the first instance in the British courts in July. A British court granted Wright the rights to the Bitcoin Core software and white paper, which are hosted by bitcoin.org. As a result, the site had to withdraw the white paper and software for British users, who are no longer able to access the site. Cøbra and bitcoin.org of infringing on their rights after the site published the white paper, attributed to Satoshi. Wright sought a declaration that, like Satoshi, he owned the copyright. The Australian computer scientist claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of BTC, since 2016. However, he has never presented any solid evidence to support his claim. Wright was given permission to file legal documents about Cøbra in April 2021. In June of that year, after Cøbra failed to appear in court, a judge issued an order for the developer to withdraw the white paper.
show up or miss
Jason Rowley, the judge handling the case, said the move to contest the costs is in stark contrast to the substantive lawsuit in which the defendant appeared quite optimistic about the effect of the injunction. That is, the removal of the relevant document from the website. Therefore, Rowley ruled that Cøbra will have to reveal his identity if he wants to appeal the decision. “I have come to the conclusion that if the defendant wishes to contest the claimant’s bill of costs, he will have to identify himself in the manner indicated in the notice of application. Until that happens, the court cannot take cognizance of the points of contention brought,” said Rowley. The judge stated that if Cøbra does not wish to reveal his face, he can request anonymity. However, the programmer must at least reveal his real name. “I accept that this generally does not preclude the opponent from knowing who the party is, but this is the extent to which a party can be involved in the proceedings and limit their identification,” the decision said. The time for the process started counting from Thursday (23). With iss Cøbra has 21 days from which to appeal the decision, plus 14 days to “identify if he is going to do it”. Which gives a total period of five weeks. The total sum ordered for the costs of the lawsuit is £35,000, or £227,000 in current values, including tax.
Another defeat for the “fake Satoshi”?
This isn’t the first time Wright has defended his claim to be Satoshi in a court of law. The scientist did the same thing in late October before a court in Norway, when he took on Magnus Granath, known as Bitcoiner Hodlonaut on Twitter. At the time, Wright suffered a setback when the Norwegian court ruled that he had failed to prove he was Satoshi. The judge in the case ruled that there was enough evidence that Wright had lied and cheated in his attempts to prove that he was indeed the inventor of cryptocurrency. The court ruled that Wright should pay Granath about R$2 million, as well as court costs. Wright’s lawyers appealed the ruling. Unidentified defendants are typically not required to disclose themselves and their addresses in similar cases. This instance is different in that the pseudonymous operator bitcoin.org, through its representatives, has contested Wright’s legal costs.