By Julius Melnitzer | April 23, 2021
UK courts tackle Bitcoin inventor’s identity
A British high court has facilitated a path forward for a case that could decide who invented bitcoin. It did so by allowing Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist resident in the UK, to serve a copyright infringement claim against the publisher of the bitcoin.org website, known as “Cobra”. According to the Daily Mail, Wright claims to have written the original bitcoin white paper in 2008 under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, whose identity has long been controversial. Wright is demanding that Cobra remove the white paper from its website.
Related story: Regulating cryptocurrency exchanges: Cleaner than cash
OCA upholds LSO’s reprimand of Diamond & Diamond
The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld the Law Society Tribunal Hearing Division’s (LSTHD) reprimand of Jeremy Diamond, a senior partner in Diamond & Diamond Lawyers LLP’s Toronto office. The reprimand stemmed from the Law Society of Ontario’s (LSO) investigation into the law firm’s structure and referral fee practices. The LSO sought production of various documents and information, but Diamond did not produce them until eight and a half months had passed.
The LSO alleged that Diamond had committed professional misconduct by failing to reply to the requests “promptly and completely”. The LSTHD agreed, concluding that Diamond had not acted in good faith and had been playing a “cat and mouse game”. The Tribunal reprimanded Diamond and ordered him to pay $25,000 in costs. Both the Law Society Tribunal Appeal Division and the Divisional Court upheld the LSTHD. The Court of Appeal characterized Diamond’s behaviour as “the antithesis of good faith dealings or, put another way, of honest, open and helpful dealings.”
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Self-driving cars may only recognize white, male faces, and fail to detect disabled
The UK Law Commission is concerned that autonomous vehicles may “struggle to recognise dark-skinned faces in the dark” because existing software may be less accurate at detecting “non-white and non-male faces”. From the “non-male” perspective, “If systems are designed to recognise pedestrians through leg movements, those movements may not be as pronounced for people wearing long skirts or robes.” As if that’s not enough, the systems may also discriminate against the disabled because they “may not have been trained to deal with the full variety of wheelchairs and mobility scooters”. The problem, it seems, is that the systems’ designers are predominantly young men. Read more here.
Related Story: When sexist, racist robots discriminate, are their owners at fault?
LAWPRO reengineers its TitlePLUS title insurance platform
LAWPRO has announced a complete overhaul of its TitlePLUS insurance program. The one-stop process for lawyers to get title insurance for their clients includes a streamlined, intuitive website that is easier to navigate; counsel fees for lawyers; easier, faster underwriting and administration; one-step issuance; no more entering common title matters; separate policies for owners and lenders; and renewed focus on customer service. The program launches on May 17 at titleplus.ca and will be available soon on RealtiWeb.
Related story: Along with the name change, law society should also look at title insurance
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Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based legal affairs writer, ghostwriter, writing coach and media trainer. Readers can reach him at [email protected] or https://legalwriter.net/contact.