Matter Labs Drops “ZK” Trademark After Community Outcry

Matter Labs, the developer of the ZkSync Ethereum Layer 2 network, has decided to abandon its efforts to trademark the term “ZK”.

In a June 3 update, Matter Labs said its decision to abandon its efforts to trademark the term “ZK” stems from the reasoning that it is “impossible to agree on a group of people perceived as believably neutral to almost everyone.”

Matter Labs Drops ‘ZK’ Trademark Effort.

Matter Labs had previously trademarked the term zero-knowledge (ZK) in nine countries, and subsequently clashed with Polyhedra Network over using ZK as a ticker symbol. This led to a week-long dispute with Polyhedra Network which condemned the actions of Matter Labs and accused them of harassment and undermining the principles of Web3.

Shortly after this, several industry players supported Polyhedra and argued that this move by Matter Labs would privatize a public resource.

As the backlash intensified, Matter Labs abandoned its trademark plans, explaining in an official statement that what might work within the Ethereum ecosystem would not necessarily be applicable or effective on a global scale, given the diversity of perspectives, interests and stakeholders involved. .

“We’re proud to be part of a movement that cares so much about cypherpunk values. And we’re incredibly grateful to the zksync community in particular for the thousands of messages of support we’ve received, once again affirming that community is everything. L ‘ZK summer is imminent.’

opposition

Prominent key figures in the ZK projects, including Shafi Goldwasser and Silvio Micali, co-inventors of ZK tests, Sandeep Nailwal and Brendan Farmer, co-founders of Polygon, and Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of StarkWare, jointly issued a statement strongly expressing . opposition to the movement.

The statement emphasized that accessibility to “ZK” should be maintained for all parties involved, while addressing concerns that proceeding with the trademark would alienate Matter Labs from the very community it aims to serve.

StarkWare, a software company that develops ZK-proof technology, found the behavior “oppressive”. Subsequently, Linea, the ConsenSys-backed Layer 2 scaling solution, also rallied behind industry advocates and condemned Matter Labs for attempting to violate the ethos of the cryptocurrency industry by going after the trademark.

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