Craig Wright ordered to pin COPA loss on social media amid pending perjury charges
The High Court of Justice in London has today, July 16, granted partial injunctions against Craig Wright following the conclusion of the landmark trial brought by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) over Wright’s claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.
The court granted an anti-suit injunction preventing Dr. Wright from pursuing further legal proceedings based on his claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto. This decision aims to stop Dr. Wright from initiating new lawsuits on this basis, reflecting the court’s position on maintaining judicial integrity and preventing misuse of the legal system.
COPA’s application for its costs in the COPA and BTC Core claims was granted, and Dr. Wright ordered the payment of these costs on an indemnity basis. Due to Dr. Wright’s current unavailability in the UK, the court also approved COPA’s request to serve the final order via email. Additionally, COPA received general permission to use disclosed documents in other relevant proceedings.
These injunctions aim to prevent Wright from continuing his litigation campaign and threats based on his claim to be Bitcoin’s inventor, which the court definitively rejected in its main judgment.
However, Justice Mellor declined to grant COPA’s requests for broader injunctions that would have prevented Wright from making any public assertions about being Satoshi or required him to delete past statements. The judge found these proposed restrictions went too far in limiting Wright’s freedom of expression and were outside the court’s reach.
“The Court does have the jurisdiction (in the true sense of the word) to grant the relief COPA seeks […] I consider it is prudent to err on the side of caution and give Dr Wright the benefit of the doubt. So I refuse to grant either of the third or fourth injunctions”
The court did order Wright to publish notices about the judgment on his website, Twitter feed, and Slack channels for three months. This aims to ensure the court’s findings are widely disseminated.
“I do not consider a notice on his website on its own to be adequate, since his primary mode of communication to those interested appears to be via X / Twitter or via his Slack channels.
So I will order the publication of an amended version of the notice sought by COPA on the homepage of his website for a period of six months and of the same amended notice pinned on his X / Twitter feed and on all Slack channels for a period of 3 months.”
Justice Mellor also referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration of potential perjury charges against Wright over his “wholescale perjury and forgery of documents” during the trial.
While not granting the full scope of injunctions sought by COPA, the ruling significantly restricts Wright’s ability to pursue legal action based on his discredited claims. It marks another major setback for Wright following the court’s unequivocal rejection of his assertion to be Bitcoin’s creator.
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