A high-powered legal team has been rebuked by a judge for failing to help keep on track a marathon court case which parties hope will resolve the controversy surrounding the identity of bitcoin inventor 'Satoshi Nakamoto'. In a 42-page written judgment following a pre-trial review hearing, Mr Justice Mellor said it was 'unfortunate' that lawyers acting for computer scientist Dr Craig Wright did 'not engage more constructively with my requests and attempts at active case management'.
He reminded parties of the overriding objective to help the court deal with cases justly and at proportionate cost.
The judge was ruling on applications from Wright for an adjournment to a hearing due to begin this month as well as permission to rely on 97 new documents dating from what Wright says is the genesis of bitcoin. They include a version of the seminal 2008 bitcoin white paper which Wright claims he found on a memory stick in a drawer last September. The judgment reveals that Wright's then solicitors, Travers Smith, came off the record three days after receiving a request for an explanation of the discovery.
On the application to rely on the documents, the judge said it was 'moderately surprising, to say the least' that these were not produced 'many months ago'. Elsewhere, the judge criticised the lack of a 'suitable sense of urgency' from Wright's 'impressive legal team'.
However in Crypto Open Patent Alliance v Craig Steven Wright, the judge granted permission for Wright to rely on new documents, and granted an adjournment of three weeks for Wright to prepare evidence responding to allegations of forgery.
The hearing, now due to begin on 5 February, will be a joint trial of four disputes relating to Wright's claim to be 'Satoshi'. Resolution of the 'identity issue' would be a preliminary step in further litigation involving Wright and bitcoin developers.
Setting a timetable for the trial, the judge said he expected witness evidence to add up to 19 days, though some allocations may need to be made for additional experts. He added that he had cut back the parties’ estimate for crypto currency expert witnesses, on the basis that, he did not see significant differences between their positions. 'If I am wrong about that, I will be educated accordingly in the skeleton arguments.'
Jonathan Hough KC and Jonathan Moss, instructed by Bird & Bird, appeared for COPA. Lord Grabiner KC, Craig Orr KC, Mehdbi Baiou, Timothy Goldfarb and Richard Greenberg, instructed by Shoosmiths, appeared for Wright in the COPA claim. Alex Gunning KC and Beth Collett, instructed by Macfarlanes, appeared for the developers in the BTC Core Claim; Terence Bergin KC and Jack Castle, instructed by Harcus Parker, appeared for the BTC Core Claimants regarding security for costs
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