“Ownership of ‘ZK’: Strakware and Other Companies React to Zksync Trademark Registration – Is this a Public Asset?”

Matter Labs’ attempt to register “ZK” as a trademark has sparked strong opposition from the crypto community. Their actions are seen as an attempt to privatize a public technology, violating the common interests and spirit of the crypto community. The following is a joint statement from several ZK technology inventors and researchers, expressing their strong condemnation of this behavior.

Table of Contents
Toggle
Controversy over zkSync Trademark Application
Joint Statement of Multiple ZK Companies Opposing the Action
“ZK Should Belong to the Public”
zkSync’s Response: Trademark Registration Does Not Imply Exclusive Technology

Matter Labs, the development entity of zkSync (ZK), has submitted trademark applications in nine countries, claiming “ZK” as its exclusive intellectual property. This behavior is seen as a transparent attempt to claim ownership of technology that does not belong to them.

Original creators of ZK or zero-knowledge encryption technology, academic cryptographers, and renowned ZK researchers and developers have jointly issued a statement strongly condemning Matter Labs’ actions. They believe that ZK is a public good and should belong to everyone, not a proprietary asset of a particular company.

The statement points out that Matter Labs has attempted to persuade exchanges to allow the registration of tokens using the “ZK” code through its trademark application, further solidifying its claims to this technology. They emphasize that this behavior violates the spirit of the crypto community, the Ethereum community, and the academic community, and even goes against Matter Labs’ own mission of “making the world a better place by increasing people’s freedom.”

The signatories of these statements state that ZK technology should remain a public good and should not be registered as a trademark by any company, but should be open to everyone. They believe that those dedicated to ZK technology understand that they stand on the shoulders of those who came before them, and the creation and development of these technologies come from collective wisdom and should not be monopolized by a single company.

The signatories of today’s (5/30) statement call on the community to demand that Matter Labs withdraw all trademark applications and the use of the “ZK” code. They request that Matter Labs reflect on its actions and adhere to its standards.

The statement is jointly signed by the following important figures in the crypto field:
– Shafi Goldwasser (Turing Award laureate, co-inventor of zero-knowledge proofs, scientific advisor to StarkWare)
– Silvio Micali (Turing Award laureate, co-inventor of zero-knowledge proofs, technical development at Algorand)
– Eli Ben-Sasson (StarkWare CEO, scientist at Zcash, co-inventor of ZK-STARKs)
– Sandeep Nailwal (Co-founder of Polygon)
– Tiancheng Xie (Co-founder of Polyhedra Network, inventor of zkBridge)
– Brendan Farmer (Co-founder of Polygon)
– Elias Tazartes (Co-founder of Kakarot)

In response to this, zkSync states: “ZK technology belongs to the community, that’s it. We have applied for ZK-related trademarks to ensure the freedom of using the term ‘ZK Sync,’ ‘ZK Stack,’ and other related names. Whether you like it or not, trademarks are the only legal tool available today. A common misconception is that owning a trademark means you have exclusive rights to a specific word or phrase and can prevent others from using it. However, you do not have rights over general words or phrases, only how they are used in conjunction with your specific goods or services. In other words, we are committed to finding an appropriate structure for the ZK trademark that allows everyone building ZK technology to use it. We invite other ZK projects to join this effort. ZK technology, especially the term ZK, is and must always be a public good that everyone can access freely.”

These technology experts’ commitment to maintaining the public good and engaging in ideal arguments is indeed passionate. However, it seems that they may not gain much attention in a market that only focuses on memes.

Matter Labs
StarkWare
ZK
zkSync