What to do if the entire Web3 industry retreats?

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 they will be dropping all applications due to significant backlash.

Full story

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

Well, thanks to a lot of public backlash, including a joint statement signed by leaders of Polyhedra, Polygon, and StarkWare stating that ZK “must remain a public asset,” we have an update on the matter.

Matter Labs has dropped all trademark applications.

(Well, they did said they will drop all trademark applications, which seems so far technically didn’t happen – but we expect so).

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

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

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

Matter Labs could have gone the other way and taken a tough approach, leaving it to the courts to decide.

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

They come out the other side, not in the best position, but not in the worst position either (they definitely got some publicity!).

All of this is to say that while the initial trademark filings seemed to cross the line, it’s great to see a company listening to the community and responding.

You’ve redeemed yourself (a little).