In response to the situation, Johnson pointed out that Unstoppable Domains (UD) had released a press statement, wherein they committed their initial patent to the Web3 Domain Alliance—an industry consortium established and managed by Unstoppable Domains. While acknowledging the gesture, Johnson expressed regret, emphasizing that press releases lack legal enforceability.

“We are thus requesting that Unstoppable Domains put legal weight behind its PR commitment, with an unconditional and irrevocable patent pledge.”

The ENS Labs is “ready to challenge this patent, which we believe is entirely derivative of our own inventions; a position we are able and willing to demonstrate,” Johnson warned.

One of the alleged inventors from Unstoppable Domains, Matthew Gould, responded in the thread, extending an open invitation to join the Web3 Domain Alliance, the blockchain domain registry organization allegedly pledged with the patent. Gould also argued:

“I think your proposed solution doesn’t take into account the fact that we want there to be multiple naming systems - not just ENS - and the only way to ensure that future is to have a place where everyone (not just UD and ENS) collaborate.”

According to Cointelegraph they reached out to Unstoppable Domains, but did not receive an immediate response.

The discussion within the thread drew the interest of the cryptocurrency community. Bob Summerwill, who serves as the executive director of the Ethereum Classic Cooperative (ETC Cooperative), pointed out that compelling organizations to join the Web3 Domain Alliance as a condition for technology rights constitutes a direct challenge to the open-source ethos.

“Also, Matt, this prior pledge is not the same as we are talking about, because legal entities need to ‘join the club’ to benefit from the patent pledge. You are retaining the right to patent attack anybody who does not comply and join your alliance.”