Contributors in the zero-knowledge (ZK) field, including StarkWare and Polygon, publicly condemned the Ethereum Layer 2 network zkSync's attempt to register "ZK" as a trademark, calling the move a threat to the encryption community and demanding the withdrawal of the application.
The dispute stems from a dispute between the cross-chain protocol Polyhedra Network and zkSync over the token code. Polyhedra issued the “ZK” token as early as March this year. However, Bybit exchange announced in an announcement last week that it would list zkSync’s token ZK, which immediately caused Polyhedra’s dissatisfaction.
Polyhedra later made it clear on the X platform that zkSync intended to snatch their token code, claiming that zkSync had never contacted Polyhedra and continued to spread rumors among different entities.
zkSync has never contacted us.@zksync keeps spreading rumors between different entities.If every project that has issued tokens faces the threat of having its ticker taken by a heavily invested project, the industry will become chaotic, placing significant regulatory issues.
— Polyhedra Network (@PolyhedraZK) May 28, 2024
triggering a backlash from industry players
On May 30, Polyhedra Network received public support from several leaders in the ZK field. In a statement, the project, which includes StarkWare and Polygon, condemned the actions of zkSync developer Matter Labs. They claimed that Matter Labs attempted to register the ZK trademark and use it for its own tokens, which was contrary to the crypto and Ethereum community. The basic spirit of the group.
The statement emphasized that zero-knowledge technology is a public good and should remain open to everyone, and called on Matter Labs to withdraw its trademark application. The statement read:
"We call on the community to demand that Matter Lab withdraw all trademark applications and use of the "ZK" code. Matter Labs’ own “Creed” encourages collective action in the face of oppression that seeks to undermine sovereignty, and we hold them to their own standards. "
Signatories of this statement include Turing Award winner and co-inventor of zero-knowledge proof Shafi Goldwasser, Silvio Micali, founder of Layer 1 blockchain Algorand, StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson, two people from Ethereum scaling solution Polygon co-founders Sandeep Nailwal and Brendan Farmer, Polyhedra Network co-founder Tiancheng Xie and zkEVM project founder Elias Tazartes.
ZK is a public good that should belong to everyone.Matter Labs, the corporate entity behind @zksync, has filed trademark applications in nine countries, claiming ZK as its exclusive intellectual property, even though they neither created nor contributed to the creation of this…
— StarkWare (@StarkWareLtd) May 30, 2024
Linea, an L2 network developed by Consensys, also issued a statement today supporting this statement and calling on Matter Labs to stick to its mission and withdraw its trademark application.
zkTMMatter Labs, the entity behind @zkSync has just filed trademarks for "ZK" as its exclusive intellectual property. Zero-Knowledge (referred to broadly as zk in our industry) is a field of cryptography that has been innovated by researchers around the world.Many of these… https://t.co/ThAeUIzGvW
— Linea (@LineaBuild) May 31, 2024
In addition, Taiko, a Layer 2 network that was recently launched on the Ethereum mainnet, said, "In view of similar discussions about token codes this week, we hope to be fair to everyone." Since other projects have used $TKO as a code, Taiko decided to Its token code changed from $TKO to $TAIKO. In response to the conflict with zkSync, Polyhedra also announced that it would change the token code used when listing on the HashKey exchange to "ZKJ".
Matter Labs’ response
After being criticized by many people in the industry, Matter Labs posted on the X platform earlier today (31st) that "ZK technology belongs to the community, and that ends here." The word "ZK" can be used freely in the context of "ZK Sync", "ZK Stack" and other related names. "Whether you like it or not, trademark is the only legal tool available today."
Matter Labs continues:
"We remain committed to finding an appropriate structure for the ZK trademark that is accessible to everyone developing ZK technology. We invite other ZK projects to join this effort. ZK technology, and especially the word ZK, is and must always be A public good, free for everyone to use.”
Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski also clarified that trademarks exist to protect users, not companies. All trademarks that Matter Labs has ever registered are defensive, including those related to ZK, to prevent dishonest actors. Mislead customers and confuse their products and services with those provided by Matter Labs.
Alex G also said that the company had earlier contacted the legal team of the Ethereum Foundation and expressed its willingness to cooperate to create a legal framework for the use of "ZK" and similar important technology terms in the public domain.
Matter Labs is a zealous proponent of the libertarian, cypherpunk ethos and the values stated in the ZK Credo. We reject the very idea of “Intellectual Property”. Everything we create is released to the public under free open source licenses.Trademarks, however, exist to… https://t.co/3yEaKy7fEh
— Alex G. (∎, ∆) (@gluk64) May 30, 2024
This article: Industry insiders condemn zkSync’s registration of the ZK trademark and demand the withdrawal of the application. First appeared on Zombit.