Crypto Open Patient Alliance -v- Dr Craig Steven Wright, and Dr Wright -v- various
Business and Property CourtsHigh CourtIntellectual Property List
Claim Numbers. IL-2021-000019
IL-2022-000069
In the High Court of Justice
Business and Property Courts of England and Wales
Intellectual Property List (ChD)
29 January 2024
Before:
Mr Justice Mellor
Between:
Crypto Open Patient Alliance
Claimant in IL-2021-000019 (the “COPA Claim”)
-v-
Dr Craig Steven Wright
Defendant in the COPA Claim
and
Dr Craig Steven Wright and others
Claimants in IL-2022-000069 (the “BTC Core Claim”)
-v-
Various Defendants (“the Developers”)
Defendants in the BTC Core Claim
Order – Management of Remote Access to Trial
AT THE PRE-TRIAL REVIEW (“PTR”) held on 15 December 2023, in advance of the trial of the Identity Issue (namely whether Dr Wright is the pseudonymous ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’, i.e. the person who created Bitcoin in 2009), (“the Trial”) which is set to commence on Monday 5th February 2024, the Judge ordered, amongst other matters, in [21] that:
“The Trial shall be conducted as a hybrid hearing, giving access to interested parties for remote attendance by video-link. Any person wishing to attend by video-link shall be notified to and approved by the Court, and facilitating access for non-approved persons is prohibited.”
THIS ORDER sets out further details and conditions upon which access may be given to any interested party for remote attendance of the trial by video-link
IT IS ORDERED THAT:
Making requests for a link to access a video feed of the proceedings
1. Requests for a link will be refused unless the person requesting the link identifies themselves properly, by their personal name, at the time of making the request.
2. Requests for a link must be received by the Court (preferably via email to chanceryjudgeslisting@justice.gov.uk) on or before Friday 2nd February 2024 or the working day before the day when access is requested to start. Requests received after these deadlines may not be processed until the next working day.
3. It is a matter for the Court to decide who may be provided with a link and whether they may continue to use it once it has been provided.
Restrictions on use of links
4. Links to the video may not be provided to anyone without the Court’s permission and are only to be provided directly by the Court. The Court may terminate or restrict access of any person via any link if appropriate.
5. A video link provided to a person is for their own use. No-one who is provided with a video link may forward it to any other person or share the link or video feed in any way.
6. Recording or reproducing the video or audio or photographing the video (including taking a screen grab) is prohibited and constitutes a contempt of court. It is also against the law to record or transmit the video or audio feed or to record or to transmit someone taking part in such a hearing.
7. Subject to any order to sit in private or any other order, a person provided with a link to the video is permitted to use it to watch and hear the whole of the proceedings (i.e. generally, once provided, a link may be used for each day of the Trial) from any suitable location anywhere in the world.
Conduct required of remote attendees
8. A person provided with the video link may not address the proceedings without the Court’s permission. A person provided with a video link pursuant to this order must not transmit audio or video to the Court (and so must have any microphone muted and any camera disabled throughout).
The Court has provided a sealed copy of this order to the solicitors for the parties: Bird & Bird LLP for COPA, Shoosmiths LLP for Dr Wright and Macfarlanes LLP for the Developers, and a link to this Order will be available on the listing for the Trial on the daily cause list for the Business and Property Courts.