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. British judge James Mellor suspended Wright’s trial until the application is heard on December 18.
Wright is facing a contempt case for the Bitcoin Core lawsuit
On November 1, Craig Wright attended a hearing on a contempt of court application for his £911 million, $1.2 billion lawsuit against Bitcoin Core developers and Square Up European Ltd.
In response, the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) filed a contempt application, arguing that Wright had violated the injunction arising from the main Bitcoin authorship case.
If reported by Bitcoinist Earlier this year, Judge James Mellor of the British Supreme Court ruled against Wright’s claims of being Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. The judge concluded that the Australian computer scientist had lied “extensively and repeatedly” in his written and oral evidence and extensively falsified documents to support his claims.
As a result, the court ordered Wright to admit that he was not Satoshi Nakamoto and to cease all further legal action related to his refuted authorship claims.
According to the transcript of the hearing shared by BitMEX Research, the filing states that Wright violated the Court’s previous ruling after threatening to file a barred proceeding and ultimately doing so against Bitcoin Core and Square.
COPA's Contempt of Court application form. Source: BitMEX Research on X.
Self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto filed a lawsuit on October 10 to claim that BTC Core developers and “all affiliates” misrepresented BTC as the original Bitcoin.
Wright, who is representing himself in this lawsuit, argues that the Taproot and Segregated Witness (SegWit) upgrades have “created confusion in the market and compromised the vision of the original Bitcoin protocol.”
Moreover, the computer scientist claims that Bitcoin SV (BSV) is the real version of the flagship cryptocurrency and has over $1 billion in injury for undermining the property and creating a misconception.
Wright denies COPA’s accusation
At today’s hearing, Wright, who attended via video call from Singapore, refuted the accusation, saying: “I don’t believe I’m in contempt, my lord.” He added that if the court found him in contempt, he would be willing to amend the case because he did not want to offend.
Formerly Wright explained on an X-thread that he started his latest legal battle not as Satoshi “but as someone who has invested significantly in the system.” The computer scientist states that his new claim is “fundamentally different” from an identity claim because it is based on his “contributions to the development, maintenance and expansion of the Bitcoin blockchain.”
Judge Mellor decided to stay Wright’s lawsuit while the contempt petition was resolved and schedule the correspondent hearing for December 18. Nevertheless, Wright initially resisted a physical appearance in court that day, claiming that his autism spectrum disorder (ASD) would prevent him from physically appearing in court.
Meanwhile, COPA’s legal representative, Jonathan Hough, argued that the seriousness of the accusation requires all parties to appear in court:
This is an extremely serious legal proceeding. That is why we believe it should be done personally. CSW has made a very big claim: if there is any merit in COPA’s application, hiding behind a keyboard from a closet in Thailand is wrong in principle. CSW says he is a British resident and is expected to return to Britain for the hearing.
Ultimately, Judge Mellor set an additional hearing date for November 26 to determine whether Wright will be in court next month.
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