Bitcoin File Format: Protected By Copyright Or Not?

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Law Firm: Matheson
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Privacy, Technology, Data Protection, Copyright, Fin Tech
• Author: Mr Rory O'Keeffe, Tonia Buckey and Billy Casserly
• Published date: 24 May 2023

Open-source developers and the Bitcoin community welcome the recent decision of the English High Court in United Kingdom Wright & Ors v BTC Core & Ors [2023] EWHC 222 (Ch). The Court held that the file format used to create blocks on the Bitcoin Blockchain System (the "Bitcoin File Format") lacks sufficient content to be classified as a 'work' to which copyright could attach.

The Court refused to grant leave to serve proceedings for copyright infringement in the Bitcoin File Format as the applicant had failed to satisfy the court that literary copyright does subsist in a Bitcoin File Format. The Court held that there was a lack of evidence of sufficient content to be classified as a 'work' to which copyright could attach.

Background to the Bitcoin File Format Decision

The action was brought by Dr Craig Wright, who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the original author of "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" (the "White Paper"). Dr Wright claims to own the copyright in the White Paper and the Bitcoin File Format and the database rights in three databases, namely:

(1) Bitcoin Blockchain;

(2) the Bitcoin Blockchain (as it stood on 1 August 2017 at 14.11 - up to and including block 478,558) ; and

(3) another part of the Bitcoin Blockchain made in another period (the "Databases").

The proceedings concerned Dr Wright's application to serve a claim out of the United Kingdom jurisdiction concerning:

• The infringement and subsistence of copyright in the alleged literary work of the Bitcoin File Format
• Infringement of copyright in the White Paper
• Infringement of database rights in the Databases

In order to grant a claimant permission to serve a claim on someone outside of the jurisdiction, the court must be satisfied that the matter raises a serious issue to be tried. This means that the claim must have a real (as opposed to fanciful) prospect of success.

Dr Wright brought the claim because he objected to two 'Airdrops', each of which allegedly effected 'significant' changes to the Bitcoin System, and deviated from the principles and protocols he had created and specified. An airdrop is when a project takes a certain amount of the project's cryptoassets and sends them for free to people who meet particular requirements.

The first Airdrop resulted in the BTC Blockchain and occurred on 1 August 2017. The second Airdrop occurred on 15 November 2018 and created the P2P BCH Blockchain.

Dr Wright alleged infringement of database rights and copyright to prevent...