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Patent Cockroach? ENS accuses Unstoppable Domains of stealing development achievements and maliciously applying for patents

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Patent Cockroach? ENS accuses Unstoppable Domains of stealing development achievements and maliciously applying for patents

The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) emphasizes the value brought by their commitment to open source, but this goodwill has been exploited by Unstoppable Domains (UD), who filed a patent for the development achievements of ENS.

ENS: Unstoppable Domains Maliciously Applies for Patent

ENS development lead Nick Johnson, known as nick.eth, accused competitor Unstoppable Domains, also in the domain service industry, of applying for a patent called "Resolving Blockchain Domains" based on ENS's development without consent.

He made several statements:

  1. ENS holds an open-source license, and the code standards are available for anyone to deploy.

  2. ENS is committed to open-source values and has not applied for a patent.

  3. The first patent from Unstoppable Domains, with the number US11558344, is entirely based on ENS's development.

Unstoppable Domains UD Transfers Patent to Own Alliance

Nick Johnson pointed out that UD previously issued a press release transferring the patent to the Web3 Domain Alliance, a domain alliance created and operated by UD itself, and invited ENS to join.

However, this domain alliance is established by UD and the press release does not have legal effect.

Unstoppable Domains Responds to Community Backlash

UD founder Matthew Gould emphasized the necessity of the Web3 Domain Alliance, likening its importance to the non-profit organization ICANN, which currently manages domain names.

ICANN was established in 1998 and consists of representatives from various governments, technical, and business sectors.

However, Matthew Gould's explanation did not help the situation. The crypto community criticized him for applying the operational model of the centralized organization ICANN to domain management in Web3 and avoiding addressing ENS's accusations.

ENS: Opening Patents to Everyone, Not Just ENS

ENS development lead Nick Johnson called out UD in his final response:

We demand that UD publicly license the patent, not just to ENS, but to everyone, unless someone violates the agreement. This is considering the practical situation of many domain protocols, and IBM and other companies have also taken similar patent non-aggression agreements.

Nick Johnson emphasized that if UD disagrees, ENS will be prepared to challenge the patent.

For the sake of transparency, Nick Johnson also released the communication process between both parties regarding this matter.