'We Are Prepared to Go to the Mat:' ENS Founder on Patent Dispute With Unstoppable
Nick Johnson, the founder and lead developer of Ethereum Name Service (ENS), is ready to fight over an intellectual-property dispute with Unstoppable Domains. He claims Unstoppable won a patent based on ENS's innovations and fears that they might use this to their advantage. Johnson is considering a challenge to the patent after unsuccessful discussions with Unstoppable. ENS is a domain-name protocol that provides Ethereum users a name instead of the alphanumeric blockchain address associated with their crypto wallets, a service that Unstoppable Domains offers too. Johnson called on Unstoppable to provide a patent pledge to give legal weight to their commitment to not assert patent claims. This dispute falls in line with the blockchain industry's ethos of open-source code, which many see as a driving principle behind software as a public good.
