LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - An Australian computer

scientist who claimed he invented bitcoin was on Friday accused

of contempt of court after he filed a 911 million-pound ($1.18

billion) lawsuit against Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's payments

firm Block in Britain.

Craig Wright claimed to have been the author of the

foundational text of bitcoin published under the pseudonym

"Satoshi Nakamoto". But a court found that there was

"overwhelming evidence" that Wright did not write the 2008 text.

The Crypto Open Patent Alliance took legal action against

Wright to stop him suing bitcoin developers. After a trial at

London's High Court, a judge said in a written ruling in May

that Wright lied "extensively and repeatedly" and forged

documents "on a grand scale".

The judge in July referred Wright to Britain's Crown

Prosecution Service to consider whether he should be prosecuted

for perjury. He also made an injunction preventing Wright from

bringing any litigation on the basis of his claim to be Satoshi.

Wright is appealing against the ruling and a decision on

whether he can bring an appeal has not yet been made. He denied

forging documents when he gave evidence in February.

COPA's lawyer Jonathan Hough said at a preliminary hearing

on Friday that Wright was in breach of the injunction having

filed a lawsuit against Square Up Europe Limited, which is

ultimately owned by Block, earlier this month.

Wright was not legally represented and appeared at the

hearing by videolink from Singapore, Hough said.

"I do not believe I am in contempt," Wright said. He added

that, if he was found to be in contempt of court, he was willing

to amend his lawsuit to make clear the case had "nothing to do

with the ownership of the creation of the system".

A hearing to determine whether Wright is in contempt will be

heard in December. Wright's lawsuit against Block was put on

hold in the meantime.