A lawsuit filed by Craig Wright against 13 Bitcoin Core developers could change the way the law looks at open source development.
Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit organization co-founded by Jack Dorsey, Alex Morcus, and Martin White, supports 13 Bitcoin Core developers facing lawsuits from Craig Wright. These cases could have significant impacts on the future of open source software development and Bitcoin.
Eleven fund-backed developers will present their defense on April 26. Tulip Trading Co., Ltd. v. Bitcoin BSV Association and Others, for which the developers are named, stems from an alleged February 2020 hack that resulted in the loss of 111,000 bitcoins that Wright claims to own. In February 2021, Tulip Trading issued a “pre-action letter” announcing its intention to take legal action against certain bitcoin developers to recover the allegedly lost bitcoin.
If the British courts rule in favor of Tulip Trading, developers of open source software could be considered to be trusted by users of the software they have contributed to, even projects without any formal assumption of duty or compensation for the associated costs and risks. “The Tulip Trading case threatens not only MIT’s license, but also the very idea of free speech,” said Alex Morcos, co-founder of Chaincode Labs and Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund.
Craig Wright also filed a second lawsuit against Bitcoin developers claiming that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, and thus owns the copyright to the Bitcoin Whitepaper and the database rights to the Bitcoin blockchain.
If Wright is successful, it “would, in the eyes of the law, allow Craig Wright ultimate control of the Bitcoin network,” according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. However, it should be noted that Bitcoin is a protocol and a network made up of all participants around the world. Bitcoin cannot be controlled by any individual, corporation or government. The law cannot give anyone complete control over the Bitcoin network.
“We think these lawsuits are frivolous, but we still have to vigorously oppose them,” said Jes Jonas, chief legal officer of the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund. “We fight for the right of developers to create free and open source software without fear of legal retaliation.”
“The outcome of these cases is important to everyone, even those who may not have an interest in bitcoin, because these lawsuits can have serious adverse effects on massive resource development,” said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block and co-founder of the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund. , which will negatively affect our lives in ways we may not realize until it is too late.”