Is ‘not-Satoshi’ Wright implying that COPA is against innovation?

Craig Wright, known for his legal battles over Bitcoin and its intellectual property, recently commented on patent rights, saying they are crucial. The timing of his statement raises eyebrows, as it comes after COPA partnered with Unified Patents to protect the crypto community from “patent trolls.”

Following Wright’s legal defeat against COPA, BSV continues to underperform the market. The token has dipped by 10% in 7 days.

Wright takes a dig at COPA’s new alliance

Craig Wright, who has been part of several Bitcoin intellectual property cases, took to X to comment about patents and innovation. He emphasized that a patent expiry is the end of an inventor’s exclusive rights. He argues that this becomes an opportunity for others to innovate further without infringing on the creator’s rights.

Wright’s statements come shortly after the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) announced a partnership with Unified Patents to protect the community from “patent trolls.”

COPA says that these entities can potentially abuse patent rights to sue or threaten companies without actually making or selling products themselves. Cryptopolitan previously reported that the alliance wants to stop unnecessary patent claims that stifle blockchain innovation.

This is their dishonesty: they speak of freedom, but they advocate for a world in which the individual has no protection, no recourse, and no rights.

They do not fight for liberty; they fight for a system in which the strong devour the weak, where the mind is subservient to…

— S Tominaga (@CsTominaga) October 2, 2024

In what seems like a dig at COPA, Wright says that true capitalism is rooted in protecting rights, including intellectual property. He takes a dig at “anarchists” and “cypherpunks” for promoting chaos and undermining these protections.

Wright states, “The anarchists reject these safeguards not because they oppose tyranny, but because they oppose the individual’s right to protect what is theirs.” The businessman goes on to use words like “dishonest” and “enemy of freedom,” which seem to indirectly implicate COPA.

BSV is underperforming against the broader market

Craig Wright, who long claimed to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, lost the claim in a legal battle with COPA this year. While Wright cannot initiate new lawsuits with claims that were already set aside by the court, he is not barred from fresh claims and appeals.

COPA is a non-profit that is backed by major crypto platforms.

Since the split of Bitcoin SV (BSV) from Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in 2018, Wright has been a supporter of the former. Wright recently said that he wants BSV to win because it expresses efficiency, scalability, and decentralization. He also claims, “BTC is no longer what it claims to be.”

Despite the endorsement, BSV remains 90% below its all-time high in April 2021. At press time, BSV is under $50 with 20% return on value this year. In terms of market cap, BSV stands 85th on CoinGecko with a capitalization of about $900 million.

BSV experienced heightened volatility around March and April, which was the time of Bitcoin’s halving. Since then, BSV has been underperforming the crypto market and PoW peers. Per CoinGecko, BSV has lost 10% value in 7 days while the global crypto market has declined by about 4%. Proof-of-Work cryptos have lost about 5%.