Author: Joe Mullin

Craig Wright, the Australian investor who claimed just three days ago to be the inventor of Bitcoin, said he's backing away from the world stage.

Wright's claims were debunked by experts within hours, who noted that his Satoshi signature was actually a 2009 signature he copied from the blockchain.

Just yesterday, Wright said he knew his claims would need "extraordinary proof," and that such proof was on the way. A day later, he has decided not to prove it after all. Wright says that he "broke" as he was about to publish proof of access to the earliest keys. "I do not have the courage," he wrote in a note on his website. "I cannot."

On Monday, Craig Wright published "proof" that he is Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, but experts debunked the claim within hours.

That led to Wright publishing a second blog post yesterday, entitled "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof." Wright says he'll show just such proof—soon:

Over the coming days, I will be posting a series of pieces that will lay the foundations for this extraordinary claim, which will include posting independently-verifiable documents and evidence addressing some of the false allegations that have been levelled, and transferring bitcoin from an early block.

For some there is no burden of proof high enough, no evidence that cannot be dismissed as fabrication or manipulation... You should be sceptical. You should question. I would. I will present what I believe to be 'extraordinary proof' and ask only that it be independently verified. Ultimately, I can do no more than that.

The post promises more, but it doesn't address the damning facts of Wright's initial disclosure. It isn't just that his proof wasn't sufficient—experts like Dan Kaminsky, chief scientist at White Ops, called it out as an intentional fraud, with Wright trying to pass off a 2009 Satoshi signature as something new.

The war of words between online publishers and makers of ad-blocking software has heated up in recent years. Now, a maker of popular ad-blocking software has a new project it says will help online publishers get paid.

Adblock Plus has joined up with Flattr to create "Flattr Plus," a system for Web users who want to pay online content creators. Flattr Plus users will set their own monthly budget that will pay favorite bloggers, musicians, artists, or newspapers. The payments will be apportioned automatically, based on a user's engagement with various websites.

Flattr was co-founded by a man who already knows a thing or two about running controversial Web services: Peter Sunde, who also created and operated The Pirate Bay.

The US Supreme Court said yesterday it will hear a case between two cheerleader uniform suppliers that could affect the state of copyright nationwide.In 2010, Star Athletica published its first catalog of cheerleading uniforms and was promptly sued. Varsity Brands, the world's biggest manufacturer of cheerleading and dance-team uniforms, alleged that Star Athletica's uniforms violated Varsity's copyrighted designs.

The clothiers' conflict could have wide effects in the fashion world and beyond. A trio of 3D printing companies have already filed an amicus brief asking the high court to take the case, seeking clarity on how to separate creative, copyrightable designs from utilitarian objects that aren't subject to copyright.

The case below

Star argues that Varsity's copyrights were on utilitarian elements of the uniforms, and thus shouldn't be allowed. The US has never allowed copyrights on "useful articles," and that's long been held to include clothing. Star won its case in district court, but a split panel at the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit overturned the win, siding with Varsity.

An Australian man named Craig Wright told the world today he is "Satoshi Nakamoto," the man who created Bitcoin. Yet despite Wright's stunning declaration and the fact that it's backed by some of the most famous names in Bitcoin, others continue to cry foul.

Wright gave interviews and demonstrations to the BBC, GQ magazine, and The Economist, and he published his own blog post claiming the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. He has convinced Gavin Andresen, former lead Bitcoin developer, as well as former Bitcoin Foundation director Jon Matonis.

Wright was first identified as the possible creator of bitcoin in December, but he hid from public view at that time.

There's been little light for Yahoo in the time Marissa Mayer has been at its helm. The company is trapped in a spiral of declining revenues, and in February it said that its core assets are up for sale.

On Friday, the company disclosed the packages that will be available to key executives if they are ousted in the event of a sale. Mayer will be paid $54.8 million in cash and stock if she's removed from her job within a year of a sale.

Yahoo has no deadline for reaching a decision on a sale, but The Associated Press reported Friday that analysts "expect a deal to be struck within the next two months at a price ranging anywhere from $4 billion to $10 billion."

A man who pointed a high-powered blue laser at a Washington State Ferry last year has been ordered to pay a $100,000 civil penalty by the US Coast Guard in Seattle.

The civil penalty was issued to Mark Raden of Freeland, Washington, who was determined by Coast Guard investigators to have shot a high-powered blue laser at the ferry Tokitae while it was on a run from Mukilteo to Clinton in October. Raden pointed the laser from the deck of another ship, the Kitsap, which was passing by the Tokitae.

The laser hit the ferry master and first mate of the Tokitae, and the incident resulted in eye injuries to both men. The chief mate's vision still hadn't recovered fully a week after the laser strike, according to statements by Washington State Ferry officials at the time.

Patent reform advocates who were hoping to "shut down the Eastern District of Texas" face disappointment today, as the top US patent appeals court ruled (PDF) against a venue transfer in a dispute between two food companies.

Tech companies and patent reform advocates have been complaining that they don't get a fair shake in East Texas, a rural district that's been a hotspot for patent litigation for more than a decade now. The case decided today, In re: TC Heartland, doesn't directly involve tech companies or East Texas, but it could have had a big effect on both.

The lawsuit began when Kraft Foods accused rival food company TC Heartland of infringing its patents on "liquid water enhancers." Heartland's defense lawyers asked to move the case from Delaware to TC Heartland's home state of Indiana, but a Delaware magistrate judge rejected the transfer motion. According to the magistrate, the fact that TC Heartland shipped about 2% of the accused products to Delaware is enough to allow the plaintiffs to sue there.

SAN FRANCISCO—Lawyers for Google and Oracle fought over the final details of their upcoming copyright trial today, debating issues of courtroom technology, time limits, and what type of evidence jurors will see.

Oracle sued Google in 2010 for violating its copyright because the search giant used parts of 37 Java APIs in creating its Android operating system. Oracle acquired Java when it purchased Sun.

Oracle lawyer Peter Bicks pleaded for more time, saying that US District Judge William Alsup's original time limit of 12 hours of evidence per side for a "liability phase" and seven hours each for a possible "damages phase" isn't long enough for the company to make its case.

An Ohio woman has sued a sperm bank that mistakenly gave her sperm from an African-American donor.

Plaintiff Jennifer Cramblett, who is white, gave birth to her mixed-race daughter Payton three years ago. In her lawsuit (PDF), she says that the sperm bank's mix-up led to "an unplanned transracial parent-child relationship for which she was not, and is not, prepared."

Cramblett was artificially inseminated with sperm she ordered from Illinois-based Midwest Sperm Bank, meant to be from Donor No. 380, a Caucasian man. Five months into her pregnancy, she found out that she had actually been sent a sample from Donor No. 330, an African-American male.