Bitcoin, copyright and fixation—Court of Appeal reopens question on whether copyright subsists in Bitcoin file format (Wright and others v BTC Core (a Partnership))

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of this case?
• What was the background?
• What did the court decide?
• Case details

Article summary

IP analysis: Craig Wright claims to have founded Bitcoin, the well-known cryptocurrency. He is involved in several sets of legal proceedings (resulting in two Court of Appeal decisions in July 2023). As part of these proceedings, he has been seeking permission to serve a claim outside of the jurisdiction, and so has had to demonstrate that there was a serious issue to be tried. The High Court has previously ruled that there was no serious issue to be tried about whether copyright subsists in the Bitcoin file format because the format was not fixed. The Court of Appeal has overturned that decision. This is not a finding that copyright subsists in the file format, but it is an important decision when considering copyright in software. Written by Connor Griffith, associate solicitor, and Giles Parsons, partner at Browne Jacobson LLP.