Jack Dorsey is planning to trademark “Web5” to prevent confusion about its meaning and misuse. TBD, a blockchain-focused wing of payments company Block, said on Tuesday that it has decided to “seek protection” for the concept of “Web5”.
“In June 2022 TBD announced Web5 to the world as a set of open, public protocols with which to build a more decentralized, secure and privacy-respecting iteration of the internet… However, we’ve recently noticed that the term “Web5” is being applied to products and services diametrically opposed to the tenets of Web5 that we set out,” TBD said in a statement on Twitter.
Mike Brock, Lead TBD at Block, explained that Block will not have any direct commercial benefit from Web5. Block intends to create 100% open-source Web5 protocols, which is handed over to an independent community. But it will not “let scammers operate under the color of Web5, no.”
“We have therefore decided to seek protection for “Web5,” which will allow us to prevent confusion about the meaning of “Web5” and ensure that the term is used as intended – to refer to a truly open, decentralized layer for the new internet,” the statement said.
In reply to a tweet, Brock, added, “We are going to put the mark under the control of an independent organization, which is not owned or controlled by Block ASAP. We have seen people trying to sell “Web5” tokens on casino exchanges and people trying to sell NFTs as “Web5”. We’re not going to take that sitting down.”
Does this mean Block will sue people for misusing Web5?
In reply, Brock assured that it won’t and gave the example of Linux, saying the community behind it “doesn’t run around suing people” for small mischiefs. But if people deceive and scam in the name of Web5, “it might be on the table.”
