Matter Labs is exploring a “Zero-Knowledge” trademark.
Matter Labs, the developer of zkSync, has sparked controversy within the cryptocurrency community. filed trademark applications for the term “zero knowledge” (ZK) in nine countries; Many believe this goes against the collaborative nature of the industry.
Matter Labs has previously An attempt was made to register a token with the symbol “ZK”. On several cryptocurrency exchanges.
ZK technology is essential to cryptographic protocols. This is because it allows you to prove that a piece of data is true without making the data public.
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Critics say Matter Labs’ actions Misuse of intellectual property rights. Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of StarkWare, expressed his displeasure:
That’s as absurd as an individual baker trying to impose a blanket patent on bread.
In a public statement on the main ZK project, Shafi Goldwasser, Turing Award winner and co-inventor of the ZK proof, said: Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder of Starkware Polygon co-founders Sandeep Nailwal and Brendan Farmer Polyhedra Network co-founder Tiancheng Xie and Kakarot co-founder Elias Tazartes Requested withdrawal of trademark application. They said:
We believe that ZK is a public good for everyone. Companies using the legal system to annex public goods violate the spirit of cryptocurrency, the spirit of Ethereum, and the spirit of academics. This goes against Matter Labs’ own ethos: ‘We can make this world better by increasing people’s freedom.’
Alex Gluchowski, founder and CEO of Matter Labs, responded: In this context, the concept of intellectual property rights is rejected, They argue that trademarks exist to protect users rather than businesses.
StarkWare’s Ben-Sasson commented: The vast potential of ZK technology beyond blockchain, Current blockchain applications are paving the way for broader adoption. As the importance of this technology grows, debates over ownership and access are likely to intensify, highlighting tensions between private enterprise and the public interest.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin highlighted innovative use cases for ZK technology and proposed adapting “likes” to the decentralized social media protocol Farcaster.
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