The UK Court of Appeal has rejected an attempt by Australian scientist Craig Wright, claiming to be the developer of Bitcoin, to challenge a previous ruling in his legal battle with the Open Patent Protection Alliance. Crypto (COPA).
The decision reinforces a previous ruling that Wright failed to prove he was Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.
Court Upholds Ruling Against Wright’s Bitcoin Authorship Claim
On November 28, the court dismissed Wright’s appeal, declaring that his claims lacked any merit. Lord Justice Arnold declared there was no reasonable prospect of success and no good reason for a hearing. Wright’s evidence was deemed insufficient to support his claim of authoring the Bitcoin white paper.
The initial ruling, which came after a 22-day trial earlier this year, concluded that Wright could not prove his claim of authorship of the October 2008 Bitcoin white paper. Expert and factual evidence presented throughout the trial completely contradicted his statements. Dissatisfied with the outcome, Wright sought to appeal but was unable to provide a convincing argument for reconsideration.
BitMEX Research reports that Wright’s appeal alleges judicial bias and improper handling of evidence. However, the court found that these allegations were unfounded. Lord Justice Arnold noted that Wright’s complaints reflected disagreement with the chief justice’s reasoning rather than actual or apparent bias.
The ruling also found that the trial judge assured Wright a fair trial, rejecting allegations of procedural unfairness.
“Dr. Wright accused the judge of bias, but this allegation is baseless. There were no credible allegations of any actual or apparent bias made by Dr. Wright, just a series of omissions from the judge’s interpretation. In fact, the judge went to great lengths to ensure Dr. Wright had a fair trial. The same applies to the allegation of procedural unfairness,” the ruling stated.
Additionally, the court rejected Wright’s criticisms of his handling of the expert evidence. The verdict emphasized that Wright’s own experts largely agreed with COPA’s witnesses on many important points, weakening his arguments. Wright allowed the decision not to call some witnesses or cross-examine others, which further weakened his case.
“Dr. Wright argued that the judge should view himself as an expert, but given that (i) Dr. Wright was the primary fact witness and (ii) he had adequate experts, the judge was clearly correct not to consider him as an alternative expert witness,” the ruling said additional.
Meanwhile, the dismissal of Wright’s legal action coincides with a contempt of court hearing scheduled for December 18. A British judge has ordered Wright to attend the hearing. . This development arose from Jack Dorsey and BTC Core’s rebuttal to his GBP 900 billion claim against Square. If convicted of contempt, Wright could be arrested or jailed for up to two years.
