zkSync developers launched a trademark battle over "ZK" and were jointly boycotted by multiple crypto leaders

Written by: Nancy, PANews

as L2 The ZK track, the main narrative force of the track, is facing a trademark battle. Recently, zkSync developer Matter Labs has triggered protests from many projects after submitting the "ZK trademark application", including Polyhedra Network, Polygon and StarkWare, which have jointly boycotted.

Polyhedra published a post accusing zkSync of stealing ZK project code, and multiple projects jointly boycotted

The story begins on May 24, when zkSyncTokenLaunched under the name "ZK"exchange Bybit’s spot trading subsequently caused dissatisfaction among Polyhedra Network, another ZK project.TokenThe code is also "ZK". Polyhedra Network tweeted that although the ETH ETF has been approved in 2024, there are still projects that "grab" the project codes that others deserve for their own benefit. Web3 is not intended to be a hotbed of bullying, and the project also calls forCommunityDefending fairness and justice, they even directly named zkSync.

A few days later, Polyhedra tweeted again, "zkSync has never contacted us and is constantly spreading rumors between different entities. If every project that issues tokens faces the threat of having its project code seized by projects that have invested a lot of money, the entire industry will become chaotic and bring major regulatory issues." Subsequently, Polyhedra changed its token code to ZKJ when HashKey Global was listed, symbolizing "ZK Join" - a united and open ZK CommunityCurrently, Polyhedra’s listing code on various trading platforms has been changed to ZKJ in response to the week-long trademark dispute.

At the same time, Matter Labs’ filing of “ZK” trademark applications in nine countries has also caused widespread dissatisfaction in the crypto industry. To this end, Polyhedra, Polygon and StarkWare jointly issued an open letter. In addition to Polyhedra co-founder and zkBridge inventor Tiancheng Xie, Polygon co-founders Sandeep Nailwal and Brendan Farmer, StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson,Zero knowledge proofIndustry leaders including co-inventor and Algorand founder Silvio Micali, Turing Award winner and ZK-proofs co-inventor Shafi Goldwasser, and Kakarot zkeVM co-founder Elias Tazartes signed the letter, which called on Matter Labs to withdraw its trademark application, calling it an "oppressive act."

Among them, Polygon tweeted that in keeping with the true spirit of Ethereum, Polygon Labs has always released open source code for the benefit of everyone, and this commitment is a great help to the entirecryptocurrencyPolygon Plonky2 has been widely adopted, and one of the beneficiaries is Matter Labs, whose core ZK technology also utilizes Polygon Plonky2. Despite relying on others' ZK technology, Matter Labs seeks to register the "ZK" trademark to potentially restrict others from using the technology. If one company has a monopoly on ZK technology, do users really benefit? Would zkSync exist without the ZK technology developed by Polygon Labs? No, its trademark registration of "ZK" would actually harm users through confusion. Openness is the foundation of Ethereum and must be preserved, especially with regard to core mathematical principles.

“Matter Labs claims ZK as its unique intellectual property, but they neither created nor contributed to the creation of this technology. By using the legal system to appropriate a public resource for their own use, Matter Labs violatescryptocurrency, Ethereum and its own principles." StarkWare pointed out in a tweet, and Eli Ben-Sasson also said that Matter Labs' attempt to register ZK technology as a trademark was an "absurd intellectual property registration."

Matter Labs responded: We oppose ZK as intellectual property, and the registration is to protect users.

On May 30, Matter Labs, the protagonist of this "trademark ownership war", finally responded on the social platform, saying that ZK technology belongs toCommunityMatter Labs has applied for ZK-related trademarks to ensure that the word “ZK” can be used freely in the context of related names such as “ZK Sync”, “ZK Stack”, etc. Like it or not, trademarks are the only legal tool available today. A common misconception is that having a trademark means you legally own a word or phrase and can prevent others from using it. However, you do not have general rights to the word or phrase, only the right to use the word or phrase in connection with your specific goods or services. Matter Labs is committed to finding the right structure for the ZK trademark to make it accessible to everyone building ZK technology. ZK technology and its terminology should always remain a public good, freely available to everyone to use.

At the same time, Matter Labs founder and CEO Alex also responded that Matter Labs is an avid supporter of libertarianism, the spirit of cypherpunks, and the values described in the ZK creed. They oppose the idea of "intellectual property" and everything they create is released to the public under a free open source license. Trademarks exist to protect users rather than companies. All trademarks that Matter Labs has ever registered, including those related to ZK, are defensive to prevent dishonest actors from misleading customers and confusing their products and services with those provided by Matter Labs (unfortunately, this has been the case in the past). Previously, Matter Labs contacted the Ethereum Foundation's legal team and proposed to work together to create a legal framework to enable "ZK" and similar important technical terms to be used in the public domain. Now the team asks others to participate in this initiative, especially those projects that have applied for trademarks related to STARKs.

Prior to this, the zkSync ecosystem runaway project ZKasino was criticized by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin for not using any ZK technology. He also expressed concern about the increasing mainstreaming of the term "ZK", believing that the term has been abused to the point that even scammers have begun to use this buzzword.

Interestingly, Ethereum L2 Taiko said on the X platform that some discussions about the token code had been held this week. Considering that it was fair to everyone and noticing that another project had used TKO as its code, they decided to change the token code to TAIKO to prevent conflicts and facilitate token listing.

The community is also arguing about this trademark dispute. Some people believe that Polyhedra's initial token code was ZKB, and later changed to ZK, which was also suspected of riding on the popularity, and judging from the X registration timeline, Zksync was registered in 2019, earlier than Polyhedra in 2023. Others believe that ZK is a public product and not any specific project. Using this name is nothing more than a lack of confidence in one's own project and is deceptive to investors who do not understand it.

Today, as brands become increasingly important, creating a trademark "golden signboard" has become an effective way to establish widespread popularity.Xiaobai NavigationIt is also an important weapon for project/enterprise market strategic competition. However, various cases in the past have also shown that products are the more critical factor in whether a golden signboard can be polished.

The article comes from the Internet:zkSync developers launched a trademark battle over "ZK" and were jointly boycotted by multiple crypto leaders

Related recommendations: With $225 million in financing, can "the king of parallelism" Monad lead the L1 expansion narrative?

Although the test network has not been launched, there is already an airdrop ambush strategy. Written by: Azuma, Odaily Planet Daily On the evening of April 9th, Beijing time, Monad Labs announced the completion of a $225 million financing, led by Paradigm, with participation from Electric Capital and Greenoaks. …