Andrew Orr
The Bitcoin whitepaper was recently discovered to be embedded in several versions of macOS, and now a person who claims to be the creator of Bitcoin is accusing Apple of copyright violation.
Just two days ago, on April 5, a Mac user discovered the technical document describing the Bitcoin cryptocurrency as well as blockchain technology on their computer. It's found on every modern Mac operating system by typing in a command in Terminal.
The document, authored by pseudonymous creator of the Bitcoin blockchain Satoshi Nakamoto, was written in 2008 to kick-start a decentralized peer-to-peer electronic payment system that boomed in recent years.
Recently, spurred on by a Tweet, someone has come forward implying that Apple has breached copyright law by including the PDF document in macOS, according to Finbold. The man is Craig Wright, who occasionally appears in cryptocurrency news.
Yes
— Dr Craig S Wright (@Dr_CSWright) April 6, 2023
Wright has claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto since an article was written about him in 2015. The identity of Nakamoto has famously remained unknown, although many tried to identify the person.
Who is Craig Wright?
Since Wired wrote its article in 2015 proclaiming Wright to be the inventor of Bitcoin and has since doubted its hypothesis, Wright has since doubled down, suing anybody who denied he invented Bitcoin under English libel law.
Although he promised in 2016 to give proof of his claim as the creator, he has yet to do so. Specifically, he has failed to provide proof of ownership of Nakamoto's Bitcoin address — known as the Genesis address — in a manner that satisfies experts.
Although Wright has yet to file a formal lawsuit against Apple, it's unlikely he will succeed since he still has to provide irrefutable evidence that he is indeed the creator of Bitcoin. Given the nature of the document, it's also unclear if any copyright law applies.
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
32 Comments
because an unused sample white paper appeared in macOS? FFS Attention seeking, fame fucker. Even if he had proof he was the author it would still be a very dubious case. Without proof it sounds like a grift from a former president who's about to be a convicted felon. Humanity really needs a reboot.
The document itself contains no Copyright—the word Copyright does not appear in the document nor the © symbol, no date of copyright and no individual/company who owns the copyright. These are three more impediments to a successful copyright suite against Apple. Furthermore, although Apple has deep pockets and is therefore a 'good' target for such a suite, copyright provides the least protection of all the intellectual property laws. He can threaten all he likes but a successful suit is highly unlikely!
Where was he when authorities were looking for him?