Why So Many Takers for the Bitcoin Crown?

Wright's latest efforts to "Prove" that he is Satoshi culminated in his legal representatives filing a copyright claim to the Bitcoin white paper as well as the early code for the protocol on May 21.

There is no way of downplaying his link to Bitcoin SV. Wright is the founder of nChain, the company that developed Bitcoin SV - and the cryptocurrency saw a huge price surge the week that Wright filed his copyright claims.

Just days after Wright copyright claim was registered in the U.S., a Chinese citizen named Wei Liu filed his own claim to the Bitcoin white paper on May 24.

With so many claims to the trademark as well as the copyright to the Bitcoin white paper and code, it becomes increasingly difficult to pin down any proof of ownership.

In the United States, copyright law is governed by the Lanham Act, also known as the Copyright Act of 1976, which provides the framework for existing copyright law in the country.

"There are a number of international treaties and conventions that provide protection for creative works. The Berne Convention is the most important international treaty that addresses international protection for copyright. It prohibits member countries from imposing"formalities" on copyright protection, in the sense that the enjoyment and exercise of copyright be subject to any formality except in the country of origin.

An important consideration in the ongoing debate around Bitcoin is whether a copyright registration proves that a specific person is the owner or creator of the work.

"Registration, while not required, gives the copyright holder the ability to defend their work in court. Specifically, it allows the copyright holder to place on record, a verifiable account of the date and content of the work in question, so that in the event a legal claim arises, the copyright owner can produce a copy of the work."

The case of Liu registering a second copyright claim on the Bitcoin white paper provides another interest legal scenario.

In trying to piece together the reasoning for Wright's claim to the Bitcoin copyright, Rossow believes there are two possible reasons: Wright could be claiming to indeed be a co-author of the Bitcoin white paper, or he is claiming to be the only author and is therefore claiming infringement of the document.