Linea: Matter Labs’ application for ZK trademark violates Ethereum principles

PANews reported on May 31 that Linea said on the X platform: "Matter Labs, the entity behind zkSync, has just applied for a trademark for "ZK" as its exclusive intellectual property. Zero knowledge (widely referred to as ZK in the industry) is an innovative field of cryptography by researchers around the world. Many researchers have contributed to the expansion of Ethereum through the zkEVM Layer 2 network. Using a legal framework to claim ownership of a cryptographic branch used to develop a permissionless, decentralized L2 execution environment goes against the principles of Ethereum and why everyone is here. We are here to promote the development of Ethereum and to make the world a better place by providing a censorship-resistant network that increases freedom for people. We support @StarkwareLTD's statement and believe that Matter Labs should abide by their mission and withdraw their trademark application for ZK."

Earlier news, zkSync developer Matter Labs filed trademark applications for "ZK" in 9 countries, claiming that the term "zero-knowledge" is the company's exclusive intellectual property. This move has caused widespread dissatisfaction in the crypto industry. Yesterday, Polyhedra, Polygon and StarkWare jointly issued a joint statement signed by Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Brendan Farmer, Polyhedra co-founder Tiancheng Xie, StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson and StarkWare scientific advisor Shafi Goldwasser. Although Polyhedra has decided to change its code logo, the joint statement pointed out that ZK "should continue to be a public product." The group added: "It should not be a trademark of a company: it should be used by everyone, and we call on the community to ask Matter Labs to withdraw all trademark applications and uses of the 'ZK' code." The founder of Matter Labs responded that the registration behavior is intended to protect users from being misled by bad actors.