A British High Court has issued a restraining order against computer scientist Craig Wright, preventing him from filing further defamation suits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a May 12 judgment<\/a>, High Court Judge Edward Mellor said Wright\u2019s repeated false claims and aggressive legal actions created legal \u201chell\u201d for individuals and developers in the Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) community, adding that Wright sought to \u201cweaponise legal systems\u201d to intimidate and silence critics.<\/p>\n His lawsuits forced people into costly and time-consuming legal defenses, often based on fabricated evidence, the judge added as he handed out a General Civil Restraint Order or injunction against Wright, prohibiting him from filing any more civil claims or applications in the High Court.\u00a0<\/p>\n The court highlighted how this strategy was part of a pattern of abusing the legal system to assert false claims of being Satoshi Nakamoto<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is apparent that Dr Wright had substantial financial backing from the start of his\u00a0campaign, and his defamation claims were deliberately unequal battles,\u201d said Judge Mellor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) brought the claim in 2021, seeking negative declarations and injunctive relief because of the threats Wright had made against its members, including crypto blogger Peter McCormack and Magnus Granath (aka Hodlonaut).<\/p>\n His defamation claims \u201cput each man through five years of personal hell,\u201d Mellor wrote, adding that allegations were \u201cpart of a deliberate strategy whereby Dr Wright and his backers sought to establish the claim [that Dr Wright was Satoshi] by unequal contests.\u201d<\/p>\n COPA is a nonprofit community formed to encourage the adoption and advancement of crypto technologies and to remove patents as a barrier to innovation.<\/p>\n Justice Mellor says Wright put defendants through personal hell. Source: bailii.org<\/em><\/p>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>Crypto group COPA launches bid to stop blockchain \u2018patent trolls\u2019<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n The threats its members received \u201cwere having a serious chilling effect on development and innovation in the cryptocurrency industry,\u201d said Judge Mellor.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDr Wright\u2019s actions have not only affected the individuals he has sued,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey have also caused significant disruption to innovation in an important technology industry.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Last March, the British High Court ruled<\/a> that Craig Wright<\/a> was not the author of the Bitcoin white paper, did not operate under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto and was not involved in the creation of Bitcoin.<\/p>\n In July, Wright issued<\/a> a legal disclaimer on his website, emphatically stating that he was not the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.<\/p>\n In December, the Australian computer scientist was given a one-year suspended sentence<\/a> in the United Kingdom for contempt of court.<\/p>\n Wright has also filed libel lawsuits against Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Bitcoin pioneer Adam Back during the almost decade-long \u201cfaketoshi\u201d saga.\u00a0<\/p>\nCraig Wright slapped for contempt of court\u00a0<\/h2>\n