The ZK trademark saga: Matter Labs, zkSync and the community backlash
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Timeline of the dispute over Matter Labs' ZK trademark filings in nine countries, from the ZK ticker beef with Polyhedra to the ZK pledge and its backlash. Concludes Matter Labs must withdraw the applications to repair trust.
Key claims
Matter Labs filed ZK trademark applications in nine countries
Matter Labs pledged an ownerless entity to hold the marks and defensive use only
Polyhedra claims zkSync showed the applications to exchanges to take the ticker
TL;DR on the ZK Trademark Saga 👇
1️⃣ The ZK Ticker Beef
@zksync takes $ZK ticker from @PolyhedraZK, which sparks CT beef (but not many care for Polyhedra complaints). Important later tho.
2️⃣ ZK Trademark Filing
@StarkWareLtd, @0xPolygon and others call out @the_matter_labs for filing trademark applications in 9 countries for ZK.
This goes beyond the ticker and is essentially trying to trademark a generic math term / cryptographic concept that was not invented by @the_matter_labs.
@StarkWareLtd claims that: "by using the legal system to claim a public good for itself, Matter Labs contradicts the ethos of crypto".
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@0xPolygon says: "Should anyone be allowed to monopolize math made publicly available by pioneers like Shafi Goldwasser, Silvio Micali, Charles Rackoff, Eli Ben-Sasson (STARKs), or Daniel Lubarov (Plonky2, a widely adopted zk library in web3)? Absolutely not."
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Prominent figures like @sandeepnailwal also weigh in, stating: "Filing trademarks for public goods is bad for everyone."
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In the meantime, I realized that @the_matter_labs and @zksync were basically coming for my name kek.
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3️⃣ Matter Labs responds to Allegations
@gluk64 counters the allegations, saying: "Matter Labs is a zealous proponent of the libertarian, cypherpunk ethos and the values stated in the ZK Credo" and "All the trademarks we had ever registered, including ZK-related ones, are defensive"
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@the_matter_labs claims: "ZK technology belongs to the community. Full stop. We applied for ZK-related trademarks to ensure that the term “ZK” can be used freely in the context of “ZK Sync”, “ZK Stack” and other related names. Like it or not, trademarks are the only legal tool available for this today."
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4️⃣ The Hate continues
This response is not taken well and called out by prominent builders like @toghrulmaharram, stating "Bro, this makes things even worse wtf [... ]the term “ZK” can be used freely in the context of “ZK Sync”, “ZK Stack” and other related names [..] So now if I launch a protocol called "ZK Chain", ML has the full right to come and claim copyright infringement."
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ZK co-inventor @silviomicali also weighs in on CT and tweets that "ZK should be free, not anyone's trademark!"
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5️⃣ Matter Labs' ZK Pledge
@the_matter_labs publishes a post in which they mention prominent names, which they thank "for their comments and suggestions on how to ensure critical terms like “ZK” remain freely available to everyone and protected against squatters."
They pledge to "Setting up an ownerless legal entity with the sole purpose of holding trademarks for ZK" and to "not file any new trademark applications for ZK. Matter Labs will not appeal any applications if they are rejected. Matter Labs will never enforce any of the ZK trademarks it owns now or in the future except for defensive purposes (i.e. preventing others from suing us)."
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6️⃣ The ZK Pledge Backfires
This is not received well and @bfarmer is amongst the first to call this move "cynical" as "The only entity that has attempted to squat on the ZK trademark is Matter Labs (since February). In my understanding, they have already used their trademark application offensively in a dispute with another project."
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This has now been confirmed by @PolyhedraZK, that claims "@zksync has shown the ZK trademark applications to exchanges and tried to snatch the ZK ticker through the ZK trademark application. This is NOT for defensive purposes."
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But that's not all. @hudsonjameson even claims that "It's gross to name drop @VitalikButerin and others on the list (many who I know for a fact are not in support of the outlined plan) to try to buy credibility for their community plan."
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@gluk64 responds to some of this by saying "If you're worried about one actor being able to abuse TMs, you should be worried about any one actor to have this ability. Treat the root cause, not the symptoms. ZK belongs to the community." expressing his support for the ZK pledge plan.
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Not really satisfying to the critics. Probably best expressed in @hdevalence's response of "no, the root cause is your actions. you are the bad actor."
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7️⃣ What's Next?
That remains to be seen, but its clear that @the_matter_labs and @zksync have f*cked up pretty badly here.
The community and frankly the entire space is outraged and the backlash is only getting worse.
Maybe they're hoping that any PR is probably good PR once people forget about this.
But for that to happen, @the_matter_labs has to withdraw their applications and refrain from any such behaviour in the future.
This is not aligned with what we're all here for.
✊ ZK is a public good.
✊ ZK is for all.
QUOTING @hdevalence
@gluk64 @0xRodney no, the root cause is your actions. you are the bad actor. this is a ridiculous argument. should there be a trademark on the word “blockchain” to protect it too? what about “laptop”? and if this was your goal why did you change course only AFTER public outcry?
@gluk64 @0xRodney no, the root cause is your actions. you are the bad actor. this is a ridiculous argument. should there be a trademark on the word “blockchain” to protect it too? what about “laptop”? and if this was your goal why did you change course only AFTER public outcry?
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