Cøbra misses deadline to respond to Craig Wright’s IP lawsuit

The deadline for Cøbra to respond to Dr. Craig Wright’s white paper lawsuit has officially passed, with Cøbra apparently deciding to take no action.

The suit concerns the publication of the famous Satoshi Nakamoto White Paper on bitcoin.org. Dr. Wright’s lawyers originally wrote to Twitter user Cøbra, as the operator of bitcoin.org, informing him that he is infringing Dr. Wright’s copyright in the White Paper and requesting that it be taken down. As this was not done, Dr. Wright issued proceedings against Cøbra on February 24.

Dr. Wright was granted permission to serve Cøbra outside of the UK’s jurisdiction on April 21, 2021; as Cøbra’s identity is still unknown, Cøbra was served via email to a bitcoin.org account. Cøbra was served on April 26 and was given 22 days to respond to the claim, but as responding to the lawsuit would entail Cøbra revealing his identity, there was some question about whether Cøbra would respond at all.

Cøbra confirmed on his Twitter that he intends not to respond and is all but conceding the case:

No. https://t.co/SIQtrd6LbO

— Cøbra (@CobraBitcoin) May 18, 2021

No. I didn't show up because defending against nonsense is a waste of time.

Aren't you happy? You finally got a "win". You should all be celebrating, but instead, you seem annoyed.

— Cøbra (@CobraBitcoin) May 18, 2021

The court will declare that CSW is Satoshi, so it will mean a lot for you guys I suppose?

Craig can also get the UK ISPs to block access to https://t.co/1dtx7wYjP2 because he will get an injunction. This will block all UK traffic to the site.

— Cøbra (@CobraBitcoin) May 18, 2021

Calvin, I’m literally an anarchist. I don’t give a shit about some stupid court in the UK.

— Cøbra (@CobraBitcoin) May 19, 2021

This is something of a change of attitude: after the April 21 ruling, Cøbra bragged that he was ready to give up his pseudonymity to defend the case:

You're wrong if you think you can bully me you creepy loser. If I have to give up my pseudonymity to defend Satoshi's whitepaper, arguably the most important paper of the 21st century, then so be it. https://t.co/YpqXlD8DlP

— Cøbra (@CobraBitcoin) April 22, 2021

Cøbra and bitcoin.org are among the five parties who have been targeted by Dr. Wright for copyright infringement over their hosting of the White Paper. Dr. Wright has maintained that the actions are not to prevent access to the White Paper; indeed, the paper remains freely available, including on Dr. Wright’s website. Rather, he says they were launched in an attempt to prevent companies using the White Paper – his intellectual property – to promote products unrelated to the Bitcoin it describes.

CoinGeek understands that Dr. Wright is considering his next move.