According to CoinDesk, a London High Court Judge has upheld a previous ruling that operators of the Bitcoin.org website, including the pseudonymous Cøbra, must reveal their identity to avoid substantial legal fees imposed by self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright. Wright served legal papers on Cøbra in April 2021 over the copyright of Bitcoin's whitepaper, accusing the website operators of infringing his rights by publishing the document. Wright claims that, as the pseudonymous author Satoshi Nakamoto, he owns the copyright to the Bitcoin manifesto.
After Cøbra failed to appear in court, a judge ordered the white paper to be removed from the website. When Cøbra tried to challenge Wright's request for £568,516.42 ($704,500) in legal fees, a London High Court Judge ruled in November that Cøbra had to identify themselves to challenge the costs. On Monday, London High Court Justice Richard Smith dismissed Cøbra's appeal on the November ruling, stating that Cøbra's reasons for not identifying themselves seemed unworkable and risked undermining the principles of natural justice.
Pseudonymous characters are common in the crypto world, which may explain Cøbra's fight to remain anonymous. Wright is currently pursuing multiple lawsuits worldwide over the Bitcoin whitepaper and libel claims that he is Satoshi. Wright's lawyers told CoinDesk on Monday that they are awaiting an order on next steps, including whether Cøbra is now required to pay the full amount. Legal representatives for Cøbra did not immediately respond to a CoinDesk request for comment.
