[buro9]

It could be argued that if Satoshi is a person, and that person created Bitcoin on equipment provided by a workplace, during work time... and if those first 1 million bitcoins were mined on equipment owned by a workplace...

Then depending on the legal jurisdiction of that person...

* The employer have a claim on the IP and the initial licence was incorrect

* The employer have a claim on the bitcoins

* The employer could have a claim on any core patent that arises

This is just from a UK patent law based view where it is repeatedly made clear to employees not to work on side projects or other things on work equipment and time.

So there is a potential legal risk, if it's determined that Satoshi was working on this using his employers resources.

[bobwaycott]

Well, shit. That's pretty heavy. I suppose I would want to remain anonymous if I was concerned about that scenario.

[PakG1]

Doesn't matter if you did a good job documenting and proving that you didn't use work equipment. I remember a speaker once telling an audience something like don't even use the same brand pens or notebooks purchased by your employer to jot down your ideas and stuff.

[bobwaycott]

Well, of course, as long as those are the rules and the scenario. The grandparent offered a bit different scenario.

The moral is quite clear, though: don't ever, ever use someone else's equipment and time to build your own thing.

[PakG1]

And now I realize how heavy that scenario is too. Dang. That's heavy.

[estefan]

Plus the Capital Gains Tax payable on 1.1m bitcoins when sold...