On May 2, Ethereum Name Service (ENS) officially petitioned the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to challenge the validity of a patent granted to Unstoppable Domains (UD) in January 2023. The blockchain domain service company says its action to ensure the web “remains a collaborative space.”
The patent, tagged US11558344, focuses on a blockchain-based domain management technology credited to Unstoppable Domains’ Braden River Pezeshki, Matthew Everett Gould, and Bogdan Gusiev. However, ENS contends that this technology originates from innovations it developed.
According to Nick Johnson, founder and lead developer of Ethereum Name Service (ENS), the patent is “based entirely on innovations that ENS developed and contains no novel innovations of its own.”
ENS emphasized its commitment to decentralization and public benefit, stating that the UD patent threatens to distort or destroy its core vision and beliefs. They argue that core web functions must be free and not barricaded by patents. The company described the action as “theft” and vowed to fight to ensure that it is overturned.
In response, Unstoppable Domains founder Matthew Gould defended the validity of the patent, stating that it was reviewed with citations to ENS and other blockchain domain systems.
Johnson has subsequently challenged Gould to summarise key innovations in their patent that were not already a part of ENS.
“Perhaps you can summarise, Matt, for all the people on Twitter who don’t have time to read the whole patent. What’s the key innovation your patent covers that wasn’t already part of ENS?”
He wrote.
Gould did not respond further to ENS and Johnson’s challenges.
Meanwhile, some members of the crypto community have supported ENS’ move. Adam Cochran from Cinneamhain Ventures argued that ENS designed blockchain names, and they must remain a perpetual public good and open intellectual property. “One of the critical values in this space is building in the open and not creating IP capture,” Cochran noted.
Advocacy group DeFi Education Fund also expressed support for ENS.
However, there were voices within the community. One member claimed that ENS has “nothing left for them but to attack UD,” alleging that ENS incites others not to work with UD and exhausts investors with high fees. Another community member accused ENS of attempting to gaslight, arguing that patents are not granted without due process.
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