Matter Labs withdraws ‘ZK’ trademark plans following community outcry

Matter
Labs,
the
team
behind
Ethereum’s
layer-2
scaling
solution
zkSync,
has
decided
to
abandon
its
efforts
to
trademark
the
term
“ZK”
—
short
for
“zero
knowledge”
proofs.

The
firm’s
decision
came
three
days
after
many
senior
ZK
researchers
blasted
the
firm’s
behavior
“in
the
strongest
possible
terms,”
emphasizing
that
ZK
innovations
should
instead
be
a
“public
good”
that
is
“accessible
to
all.”

“As
a
result
of
these
conversations,
we
decided
to
drop
all
trademark
applications,”
Matter
Labs
stated
in
a
June
2
X
post.

“It
would
be
impossible
to
reach
an
agreement
on
a
group
of
persons
who
were
almost
universally
recognized
as
credibly
impartial.
What
worked
for
Ethereum
may
not
be
applicable
to
the
entire
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

In
a
public
letter,
ZK
advocates
stated
that
ZKs
should
remain
a
public
good
rather
than
a
corporation’s
trademark
and
that
a
firm
attempting
to
use
the
legal
system
to
annex
a
public
good
would
violate
a
basic
tenet
of
the
cryptocurrency
sector.

“If
the
company
goes
through
with
this,
it
will
be
separating
itself
from
the
very
community
it
claims
to
be
a
part
of,”
the
signatories
stated
in
the
letter
on
May
30.

Seven
people
signed
the

letter,
including
Shafi
Goldwasser
and
Silvio
Micali,
two
of
the
three
creators
of
ZK-proofs,
StarkWare
CEO
Eli
Ben-Sasson,
and
Polygon
Labs
co-founder
Sandeep
Nailwal.

Matter
Labs
first

stated
that
it
applied
for
ZK-related
trademarks
to
ensure
that
ZK
could
be
freely
used
in
conjunction
with
“ZK
Sync,”
“ZK
Stack,”
and
other
names
associated
with
the
company.

“A
common
misconception
is
that
having
a
trademark
means
you
legally
own
a
particular
word
or
phrase
and
can
prevent
others
from
using
it,”
Matter
Labs
stated.
“However,
you
don’t
have
rights
to
the
word
or
phrase
in
general,
only
to
how
that
word
or
phrase
is
used
with
your
specific
goods
or
services.”

The
issue
over
ZkSync’s
trademark
application
arose
just
as
the
protocol
was

preparing
for
an
airdrop
scheduled
for
mid-June.

ZkSync
is
one
of
the
most
popular
Ethereum
Layer
2
blockchains,
designed
on
ZK-proof
technology
rather
than
the
optimistic
rollup
strategy
used
by
networks
like
Optimism,
Arbitrum,
or
Blast.

Meanwhile,
Circle,
the
issuer
of
USDC
stablecoin,
said
on
March
28
that
its
USDC
stablecoin
would
be
natively

integrated
into
the
ZkSync
ecosystem.
The
integration
marks
a
progressive
step
in
enhancing
liquidity
and
usability
within
zkSync
for
increased
efficiency
and
reduced
costs.