According to Zombit’s previous reports, Matter Labs, the developer of the Ethereum L2 network zkSync, had previously registered “ZK” as a trademark in order to compete with the already issued Polyhedra Network for the ZK token code.
Although several representative figures in the ZK technology field, including the co-inventors of zero-knowledge proof Shafi Goldwasser and Silvio Micali, Polygon co-founders Sandeep Nailwal and Brendan Farmer, and StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson, have expressed strong opinions on this Objected, but Matter Labs still issued a statement at the time, stating that its purpose in applying for ZK-related trademarks was to ensure that the word "ZK" could be used freely in the context of "ZK Sync", "ZK Stack" and other related names, "regardless of whether you like it or not." No, trademarks are the only legal tool available today".
However, just today, Matter Labs suddenly announced that it would abandon all trademark applications for the word "ZK". Matter Labs wrote in the announcement:
“The discussion around the trademark application boils down to the fact that it’s very difficult to reach a broadly agreed-upon consensus because it’s nearly impossible to find a group that almost everyone agrees with and trusts in its impartiality. What works for Ethereum may not necessarily work for Ethereum to the whole world.”
Thank you to everyone who reached out following our post, offering ideas, support, and feedback.As a result of these conversations, we decided to drop all trademark applications for the term “ZK”.These discussions came down to one important fact: it would be impossible to…
— Matter Labs (∎, ∆) (@the_matter_labs) June 2, 2024
This article was strongly condemned by industry insiders. The developer of zkSync voluntarily gave up the application for the "ZK" trademark. It first appeared on Zombit.
