Bluesky Trademarks ATProto
Bluesky has acquired the trademark for 'AT Protocol' to protect the open-source community from potential legal abuse. The company intends to keep the protocol freely available for developers while reserving licensing for commercial entities that use the mark for branding.
Why it matters
This move secures the decentralized social media ecosystem against trademark trolling, ensuring developers can continue building on the protocol without fear of litigation.
Bluesky recently acquired the rights to the trademark for “ATPROTOCOL” and its variants—including “AT Protocol” and “atproto”—from another company that was threatening to take legal action preventing the company and others from using the term. Now that Bluesky owns it, the atproto community’s continued use of the mark can be protected.
Given the nature of what we’re trying to accomplish with the protocol, it can feel a bit weird when lawyers get involved. We’re trying to shield atproto developers from having all their hard work undone by someone abusing the legal system. That really is it.
You can read a bit more about it on the new trademarks page or read the full policy (as far as legal documents go, this one’s pretty tidy; Bluesky’s lawyers are the best).
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