Matter Labs Drops 'ZK' Trademark Plans After Backlash

Matter Labs, the organization behind Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution zkSync, has withdrawn its attempt to trademark the term "ZK". This decision follows strong criticism from industry experts and the community. The announcement was made on June 2 via a post on X (formerly Twitter), acknowledging the difficulty in forming a neutral and fair group that would be accepted worldwide.

Initially, Matter Labs applied for ZK-related trademarks in nine countries to claim "zero-knowledge" technology. This technology allows one party to prove the truth of a statement to another without revealing any specific information, ensuring privacy and security. However, the attempt to trademark ZK technology faced significant opposition, with critics arguing it went against the principles of freedom and openness in the crypto industry.

Several leading figures in the ZK technology field issued a joint public letter expressing their concerns. They stressed the importance of keeping ZK technology accessible to everyone and not controlled by a single company. "ZK shouldn’t be a corporation's trademark; it should be accessible to all," the letter stated. The signatories included notable figures like Shafi Goldwasser and Silvio Micali, co-inventors of ZK proofs, and industry leaders like Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of StarkWare, and Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon.

The backlash was evident in the sentiment analytics score for zkSync, which dropped significantly in late May, reflecting the community's negative response to the trademark attempt. Despite the controversy, zkSync remains one of the most popular layer-2 solutions in the Ethereum ecosystem, with 767,730 weekly active addresses, representing a 10.2% share of total L2 addresses.

Matter Labs explained that the decision to drop the trademark applications was influenced by the inability to create a universally accepted, neutral governing body. "We decided to drop all trademark applications for the term ‘ZK’," the company stated, recognizing that what works for Ethereum might not work globally.

The company's initial intent was to protect the term ZK to ensure its association with its products, but the broader community viewed this as an overreach. Critics argued that making such a fundamental technology commercial would undermine the crypto industry's collaborative and open-source nature.

This decision underscores the need to maintain the open and accessible nature of essential technologies like ZK. It highlights the importance of community input and collective ownership of technological advancements in the blockchain space. Matter Labs' experience reflects the balance between protecting intellectual property and ensuring that crucial technologies remain publicly accessible.

As zkSync continues to play a significant role in the Ethereum ecosystem, Matter Labs' decision to heed community and industry expert feedback demonstrates the ongoing evolution and maturity of the blockchain industry.