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A Bit-ter dispute: libel claims & lis pendens

21 April 2021 / Valya Georgieva , Jeremy Clarke-Williams
Issue: 7929 / Categories: Features , Defamation , Cyber
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Valya Georgieva & Jeremy Clarke-Williams consider the landmark Court of Appeal decision on lis pendens under the Lugano Convention in a Bitcoin libel dispute
  • Lis pendens doctrine applied in global defamation claims.
  • Criteria for determining whether parallel proceedings involve the same cause of action under Art 27 of the Lugano Convention.

Bitcoin continues its roller-coaster ride after recently hitting a new record high of US$64,000. Aside from the growing cryptoeconomy, the increasing buy-in from institutional investors and the increasing scope of cryptocurrency regulation, one other factor that has the potential to affect the price of cryptocurrency is the disclosure of the identity of Bitcoin’s mysterious inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto (Satoshi).

Since 2016 (seven years after the creation of Bitcoin), Craig Wright (Dr Wright), an Australian computer scientist and businessman, has claimed to be Satoshi, a statement doubted by many in the crypto world.

In January 2021, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the case of Craig Wright v Magnus Granath

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NEWS
In this week's issue, Stephen Gold, NLJ columnist and former district judge, surveys another eclectic fortnight in procedure. With humour and humanity, he reminds readers that beneath the procedural dust, the law still changes lives
Generative AI isn’t the villain of the courtroom—it’s the misunderstanding of it that’s dangerous, argues Dr Alan Ma of Birmingham City University and the Birmingham Law Society in this week's NLJ
James Naylor of Naylor Solicitors dissects the government’s plan to outlaw upward-only rent review (UORR) clauses in new commercial leases under Schedule 31 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, in this week's NLJ. The reform, he explains, marks a seismic shift in landlord-tenant power dynamics: rents will no longer rise inexorably, and tenants gain statutory caps and procedural rights
Writing in NLJ this week, James Harrison and Jenna Coad of Penningtons Manches Cooper chart the Privy Council’s demolition of the long-standing ‘shareholder rule’ in Jardine Strategic v Oasis Investments
Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School and the Frenkel Topping Group—AKA The insider—crowns Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys LLP as his case of 2025 in his latest column for NLJ. The High Court’s decision—that non-authorised employees cannot conduct litigation, even under supervision—has sent shockwaves through the profession. Regan calls it the year’s defining moment for civil practitioners and reproduces a ‘cut-out-and-keep’ summary of key rulings from Mr Justice Sheldon
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