What Should You Do When The Entire Web3 Industry Pushes Back?

TL;DR

• Last week we wrote about how Matter Labs had filed trademark applications in nine countries to claim the term “zero-knowledge”; however, they have now said that they will be dropping all applications due to significant backlash.

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Remember how last week we wrote about that company - Matter Labs - who had decided to file trademark applications in nine countries to claim the term “zero-knowledge” as their exclusive intellectual property.

Well, thanks to a whollle lot of public backlash, including a joint statement signed by leaders at Polyhedra, Polygon and StarkWare which mentioned that ZK “should remain a public good,” we have an update on the case.

Matter Labs has dropped all trademark applications.

(Well, they’ve said they will drop all trademark applications which so far seems like that hasn’t technically happened - but we expect that it will).

Here’s why this is important, and why we think this was the right move:

A company’s reputation is everything, especially in web3.

The amount of bad actors and scams has resulted in a veeery skeptical user base, and even the slightest ‘off-brand’ move will raise immediate alarm bells.

Matter Labs could have gone the other direction and taken a hard-nosed approach, leaving it to the courts to decide.

But instead, they’ve decided to take a longer term view of things and listened to their competitors and the web3 community.

Coming out the other side, not in the best position, but also not in the worst position either (heck, they sure got some publicity!).

All this is to say, while the initial trademark applications seemed to be overstepping the mark, it’s great to see a company listen to the community and respond.

You’ve (kinda) redeemed yourself.