Matter Labs, the team behind Ethereum layer-2 network zkSync, announced on June 2 that it would withdraw all trademark applications for the term "zero-knowledge (ZK)."

Last week, the company faced significant criticism for attempting to trademark the ZK term. Industry leaders such as Polygon co-founders Sandeep Nailwal and Brendan Farmer, StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson, Polyhedra Network co-founder Tiancheng Xie, and Turing Award winner Shafi Goldwasser issued a joint statement strongly condemning Matter Labs’ actions.

These experts argued that ZK is a public asset that should not be owned by any single entity. They asserted that Matter Labs’ actions contradicted the fundamental principles cherished by the crypto industry.

Responding to the community backlash, Matter Labs announced its decision to abandon the trademark applications for the term. The company acknowledged the community's concerns, stating:

“These discussions centered around a crucial realization: it would be impractical to establish a group universally seen as credibly neutral. What might have been suitable for Ethereum might not apply universally.”

Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski affirmed the company's stance, acknowledging the difficulty of the decision:

“While challenging, this decision aligns with our belief that ZK's purpose is to transform human cooperation from 'don't be evil' to 'can't be evil.' I believe it is the right course of action.”

Despite this public announcement, the US Patent and Trademark Office website indicated that the trademark application for the ZK term was still pending. According to the site, the application was filed on February 27 and has met the initial filing requirements but has yet to be assigned to an examiner.