back to article Not the Wright stuff: Bitcoin 'inventor' loses bid to sue YouTuber who called him a liar

A self-described "blockchain expert" claiming to be the inventor of Bitcoin has had his attempt to sue a YouTuber, who made a video rubbishing that claim, laughed out of the UK High Court. Craig Wright, an Australian-born computer scientist and citizen of Antigua & Barbuda who lives in Surrey, in southeast England, lost a …

  1. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. DavCrav

      Re: Libel tourism

      "So Wright tried libel tourism"

      Is that what suing someone in your own country is called now?

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

        1. DavCrav

          Re: Libel tourism

          "He happens to be living in Surrey now, but the judges accepted the argument that this was incidental to where the alleged defamation actually took place."

          He lives in Surrey. Right, so we agree that he is ordinarily resident in the UK. So it isn't tourism to use your home court. My partner is German; should she have to go back to Germany to sue someone?

          Note that Wright has been (successfully) sued in the US, despite not being born there, a national there, or living there. To call this libel tourism is bullshit.

          (I'm not saying he's right, I'm saying it's not libel tourism to sue someone in your local court.)

          1. Andy J

            Re: Libel tourism

            The issue which both the High Court and the Court of Appeal had to examine was not where the claimant (Wright) was based, but where the defendant was. This was due to section 9 of the Defamation Act 2013 which says: "9. Action against a person not domiciled in the UK or a Member State etc

            (1) This section applies to an action for defamation against a person who is not domiciled—

            (a) in the United Kingdom;

            (b) in another Member State; or

            (c) in a state which is for the time being a contracting party to the Lugano Convention.

            (2) A court does not have jurisdiction to hear and determine an action to which this section applies unless the court is satisfied that, of all the places in which the statement complained of has been published, England and Wales is clearly the most appropriate place in which to bring an action in respect of the statement." As Roger Ver has virtually no connection with England and Wales or the EU, the outcome is unsurprising.

        2. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

          Re: Libel tourism

          Ver is a US citizen

          Not since he renounced his citizenship six years ago.

          And was then in 2015, according to Wikipedia, "denied a visa to reenter the United States by the U.S. Embassy in Barbados, which claimed that he had not sufficiently proven ties outside of the United States that would motivate him to leave at the end of his visit, causing fears he might become an illegal immigrant." Hilarious.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Libel tourism

            "according to wikipedia"

            1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

              Re: Libel tourism

              It was big news (and comedy) at the time.

  2. Matthew Brasier

    Bootnote

    The best part of this article is the bootnote - I am tempted to start appending it to all text I write on the internet.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bootnote

      Not that it will help -- scammersˆHˆHˆH cryptocurrency managers will always say "yeah, there's a lot of dodgy offers, but mine is a legit one"...

    2. The Real Satoshi Nakamoto

      Be careful what you wish for

      It baffles me why anybody would claim to be me. You make one poor decision on a proof-of-work Ponzi scheme and suddenly your life is not your own....

  3. DavCrav

    OK, I might be forgetting my recent history here. But I was under the impression that, in the UK, if even a small number of people in the UK viewed a website/video/whatever, it was considered to be 'published' in the UK for the purposes of libel. Maybe there's something different about this particular case, or maybe I'm remembering wrongly.

    1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

      Now you mention it, I do recall something along those lines. It was (ab)used by people to sue in the UK as we have/had better/worse libel laws than America.

      1. katrinab Silver badge
        Boffin

        "England" not "UK". The bar for getting a successful libel judgement is somewhat higher in other parts of the UK, particularly Scotland which has a completely different legal system.

        1. DavCrav

          This is true. Sorry, I mean England and Wales. Scotland, as you point out, has a (sometimes slightly, sometimes very) different legal system.

    2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Yes and it was widely viewed to be bring the UK courts into the same sort of disrepute as East-Texas patent courts.

      Barristers liked it, as did Bentley dealers in central London, but judges really don't like their courts being used by money-grubbing foreigners.

      1. DavCrav

        Yes, but in this case, he lives in Surrey. He might be money-grubbing, and he might be a foreigner, but I thought we still allowed foreigners resident in the UK to avail themselves of our legal system.

        1. Bronek Kozicki
          Paris Hilton

          I think there's been some change in the libel law few years past. Can't remember details though.

      2. macjules

        judges really don't like their courts being used by money-grubbing foreigners

        Unless you are HPE or a divorcing oligarch or his wife or his business partner.

  4. TimMaher Silver badge
    Childcatcher

    Judges names

    UK judges always seem to have fantastic names.

    Dingemans, Flaux & Popplewell. A law practice in an unpublished Harry Potter story perhaps?

    1. Roger Greenwood

      Re: Judges names

      Are you aware of this outfit?:-

      https://punch.photoshelter.com/image/I00007zrWjyPn1lQ

      (Cartoonist:- Tony Husband)

      1. TimMaher Silver badge

        Re: Judges names

        Wow @Roger I do remember that!

        Upvote.

        Which publication used “Sue, Grabbit & Runne. Solicitors and Commissioners for Oaths.”?

        1. Ian Bush

          Re: Judges names

          > Which publication used “Sue, Grabbit & Runne. Solicitors and Commissioners for Oaths.”?

          Private Eye, when not discussing Ugandan Affairs

        2. poohbear

          Re: Judges names

          If I remember correctly Zork had a bunch of lawyers called Dewey, Suthem and Howe...

    2. Teiwaz

      Re: Judges names

      Dingemans, Flaux & Popplewell.

      I'd say prior art by Dickens.

      1. Kubla Cant

        Re: Judges names

        And rather later Beachcomber, who frequently reported events in the court of Mr Justice Cocklecarrot.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Judges names

      Cicely Popplewell was one of the world's first software engineers. The Popplewell family actually has produced a remarkable number of rather brilliant people.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Judges names

        Narnia Lass included

    4. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: Judges names

      None as good as, the I think now retired, Judge Judge.

      Now if only we could find and promote a lawyer called Mr Dredd...

      1. bpfh
        Trollface

        Re: Judges names

        A video of him smashing his gavel and declaring "I AM THE LAW" would be an instant viral hit...

    5. harmjschoonhoven

      Re: Judges names

      The name is Anton Dingeman.

  5. BenDwire Silver badge
    Meh

    Brave

    Has anyone else running the Brave browser noticed that the vast majority of paid adverts are for cryptocurrencies? I've found that my cynical mistrust is spilling over to the browser as well, with the result that I'm using Firefox far more these days.

    1. Teiwaz

      Re: Brave

      Had to look it up.

      It blocks ads and website trackers, and provides a way for users to send cryptocurrency contributions...

      The start sounded good....

      1. doublelayer Silver badge

        Re: Brave

        The end sounded good to me, too. I don't have any cryptocurrency (well, I have enough to buy an individual paper clip at market prices), but it doesn't hurt to provide that functionality. What doesn't sound good is the other side, which is conveniently left out of their statement. According to the Wikipedia page, Brave removes others' ads, then inserts some of their own (no thanks). Also, the cryptocurrency system uses their own rewards system which doesn't sound at all dodgy. I'll stick to a normal browser, thanks.

        1. this

          Re: Brave

          I was bothered by that at first, but you can switch it off. (takes a bit of rummaging around)

          1. doublelayer Silver badge

            Re: Brave

            It's rarely a good start when the major feature of a software product is something I want to switch off. Adding things is different--a normal browser with an adblocker originally just shows everything, and I'm adding the functionality to remove some of those things. A browser that inserts other things is probably made by people who are willing to do that in other areas too, and thus it falls down in trust. How do I know there won't be other dodgy features that I would like to switch off but either I can't or I don't get informed about their existence. At least with a basic browser, I know what features it has.

  6. Richard Tobin

    "neither side was short of a few shekels"

    Is that really a phrase you want to use?

    1. RuffianXion

      Re: "neither side was short of a few shekels"

      Seems it wasn't, it's been changed to 'short of cash' now.

      1. Richard Tobin

        Re: "neither side was short of a few shekels"

        Well done to El Reg for accepting they made a mistake.

    2. Kevin Johnston

      Re: "neither side was short of a few shekels"

      Perhaps hoping they would spare one for an ex-leper

  7. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge
    Devil

    A gift

    Craig S Wright (the S is for Satoshi) really is the gift that keeps on giving.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "There is absolutely no need to email him offering him free "currency", entry to pyramid schemes, or indeed anything else at all related to any cryptocurrency, blockchain or similar. This advice applies in particular to PR agencies, marketers and those dodgy people who try to score SEO backlinks through desperate and shady means."

    Interesting ... Didn't know you guys were harassed by those scum ...

  9. Mr Dogshit

    Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

  10. Satoshi Nakamoto
    Windows

    Impersonators...

    They're the worst, I tell you!

  11. TeeCee Gold badge
    Coat

    Australian-born...citizen of Antigua & Barbuda...lives in Surrey...

    Dunno why he doesn't just insist on being paid in Bitcoin to dodge tax.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Blockchain has no practical application and Bitocoin is useless except for criminal ends. Wright and Ver and not quite right in the head

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The number of conversations I have with clients that go "We want to use blockchain to store our data but we need to be able to change entries after we have written them, how can we do that?"........ ;-(

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