ENS developers call on Unstoppable Domains to drop patent or face legal action

ENS Founder accuses Unstoppable Domains of patent infringement

The founder and lead developer of Ethereum Name Service (ENS), Nick Johnson, has sent an open letter to blockchain domains company Unstoppable Domains, demanding that they drop a recently awarded patent or face a lawsuit. Johnson claims that the patent is based on innovations developed by ENS and contains no original ideas of its own.

ENS work is open-source and publicly available

ENS is a distributed naming system based on the Ethereum blockchain. Johnson's open letter states that all ENS work is licensed under open-source licenses, with standards readily available for implementation. He also mentioned that attempts to contact Unstoppable Domains about the issue have been unsuccessful.

ENS Labs ready to challenge the patent

Johnson warned Unstoppable Domains that ENS Labs is prepared to challenge the patent, claiming that it is entirely derivative of their own inventions. The ENS community is demanding an unconditional and irrevocable patent pledge from Unstoppable Domains.

Response from Unstoppable Domains

Matthew Gould, one of the alleged inventors from Unstoppable Domains, responded to the open letter and invited ENS to join the Web3 Domain Alliance, a blockchain domain registry organization that is allegedly associated with the patent. Gould argued that there should be multiple naming systems, not just ENS, and collaboration is necessary for the future.

Cointelegraph reached out to Unstoppable Domains for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

The crypto community reacts

Members of the crypto community have taken notice of the dispute. Bob Summerwill, the executive director of the Ethereum Classic Cooperative, criticized the requirement for organizations to join the Web3 Domain Alliance for rights over the technology, stating that it goes against the open-source ethos.