ENS Founder Urges Unstoppable Domains to Drop Controversial Patent

• Unstoppable Domains was issued its first patent (US11558344) in January.
• ENS Labs claims the patent is totally a derivative of its own innovations.

In an open letter published on Twitter, Nick Johnson, the founder and principal developer of Ethereum Name Service (ENS), urges blockchain domains firm Unstoppable Domains to relinquish a newly obtained patent or face legal action.

Unstoppable Domains was issued its first patent (US11558344) in January, for a technology that leverages blockchain technology to determine domains and is said to have been invented by Braden River Pezeshki, Matthew Everett Gould, and Bogdan Gusiev.

Ongoing Clash Over Patent

Furthermore, the request for a patent was submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2021. Also, Johnson claims that the patent relies only on advancements made by ENS and includes no original ideas of its own.

Moreover, Johnson states in his open letter that all ENS work is released under open-source licenses and that all applicable standards may be found online. He claims that he has been trying to get in touch with Unstoppable Domains about the matter for months, but has been unable.

Johnson stated:

“UD has subsequently issued a press release ‘pledging’ its first patent to the Web3 Domain Alliance, an industry group founded and run by Unstoppable Domains. We appreciate the sentiment behind this, but regrettably, press releases are not legally binding.”

Also, the ENS Labs is ready to oppose this patent, which it feels is totally derivative of its own innovations; a stance it is able and prepared to show, Johnson cautioned.

Moreover, one of the alleged creators from Unstoppable Domains, Matthew Gould, commented in the discussion, giving a broad invitation for participation in the Web3 Domain Alliance, the blockchain domain registry company purportedly pledged with the patent.

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