[Ethereum Name Service challenges Unstoppable Domains patent]
The Ethereum Domain Name Service (ENS) has filed a challenge with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), questioning the validity of a patent granted by Unstoppable Domains (UD) in 2023. ENS noted that UD's patent uses technology developed by ENS and made open source. On social media platform X, ENS alleged that the technology patented by UD was originally developed by ENS Labs with the intention of being open source.
Both ENS and UD provide domain name and wallet services, and own encryption-related top-level domain names (TLDs) such as .crypto and .eth. ENS alleges that UD patented its groundbreaking technology, which was derived from ENS's open source innovations, and that ENS' contributions were cited in the patent document.
In response to the petition, Unstoppable Domains founder Matthew Gould said on X that the patent had already been reviewed by an examiner referring to ENS. Gould argued that the patents are valid, noting that patent filings are common in the Web3 and domain name industries. In response to this, Nick Johnson, the lead developer of ENS, asked Gould to point out key innovations in UD's patents that were not covered by ENS.
