Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund is fighting for the future of open source software

[djschnei]

Craig Wright is such a gigantic tool. Anyone that puts an ounce of weight behind a single word of his is an even bigger tool. Sue me.

[KirillPanov]

Indeed; this whole situation is the Jerry Springer show of open source.

[thesausageking]

Craig Wright, the guy who brought this lawsuit, has been suing people left and right for years.

He lost a high profile case last year against a podcaster who called him a fraud. The judge ruled against Wright and found that he had "advanced a deliberately false case and put forward deliberately false evidence until days before trial".

[barnbuilder]

> He lost

Sadly this is not true. Wright was ruled to have won the case but had the damage award reduced to only 1 pound.[1] (Wright is being bankrolled by billionaire Calvin Ayre. They are not worried about the money here.)

How someone can win a case while found to have "advanced a deliberately false case and put forward deliberately false evidence until days before trial" just goes to show how utterly deranged the British legal system is. As long as it is such, scammers like Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre will continue to torment innocent people.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/01/craig-wri...

[nullc]

But here is what winning means for his target: In addition to years of his life tied up in this, "Craig Wright has just submitted a bill of costs for £3.379m for his costs of my dropped defences and a two day hearing in February 2021. Defences I dropped due to excess cost My whole budge to trial was £1.3m." ( https://twitter.com/PeterMcCormack/status/165230790417358029... )

Obviously he's fighting the costs, which are due to earlier phases of the proceedings where McCormack tried to get the case summarily dismissed and was unsuccessful, resulting in Mr. Wright being awarded costs.

[rwmj]

A user on HN is one of those affected. He posted a very detailed story about his awful experience: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34685029

[PretzelPirate]

That's not just a HM user, that's Gregory Maxwell who was the main Bitcoin developer after Gavin Andresen left.

Maxwell has is own history of drama, but I can certainly agree with him that Craig Wright sucks.

[nadermx]

So I am confused, if I claim some one hacked me, I basically can forum shop, and state outlandish accusations, because "I got hacked"?

[trompetenaccoun]

Basically yes in this case, the guy has made a career out of our broken legal system.

[smoldesu]

Ideally you wouldn't use it as an excuse to seize millions of USD worth of assets you don't own, but that's the gist of it yes.

[sowbug]

TL;DR: yes, but if outlandishness crosses over to deceit, you risk penalties.

Anyone can file a lawsuit if they pay the filing fees.

If they hire a lawyer, the lawyer must uphold the ethical standards of the bar, which carry suspension/disbarment penalties. Those standards generally include a good-faith belief in the legal merits of your client's case, adherence to all laws and court procedures, speaking up when you believe a law is about to be broken, etc.

The client (you) will eventually be called as a witness, and you can go to jail if you lie on the stand or otherwise present false evidence. Unfortunately, the penalties seem to happen a lot less often than the perjury. That's partly because perjury is a criminal offense, carrying a higher burden of proof than a civil claim.

[cyanydeez]

Is this like when pedophiles claim they're part of the LGBTQ+ community?

[nullc]

Could you elaborate on your position?

[merrycherry]

Nowhere in that article does it mention Dorsey has a patent which cites one of Wright's own patents here: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov/applications/16078605

Or, that Dorsey has initiated litigation against Wright to steal his patent portfolio here: https://www.opencrypto.org/

Dorsey is a sociopath.