{"id":254102,"date":"2020-03-17T16:45:54","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T20:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/?p=254102"},"modified":"2020-03-17T16:45:54","modified_gmt":"2020-03-17T20:45:54","slug":"cardano-foundation-sued-by-former-research-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/news\/cardano-foundation-sued-by-former-research-partner","title":{"rendered":"Cardano Foundation Sued by Former Research Partner\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cardano Foundation, a blockchain firm and the developers of the ADA digital asset, have found themselves in a bit of a legal tussle. As the company announced in a\u00a0<\/span>press release<\/span><\/a>\u00a0earlier this week, Z\/Yen Group Limited (UK), one of its partners, has launched a legal suit against it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Broken-Down Relationship or a Legitimate IP Suit?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Z\/Yen Group is a FinTech solutions provider that worked with the Cardano Foundation on research and development for a while.\u00a0<\/span>Back in 2018, the two entities collaborated to release \u201cThe Quantum Countdown: Quantum Computing and the Future of Distributed Ledger Encryption,\u201d an educational material that explained how the development of quantum computing could affect blockchain technology and its development going forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the press release explained, the legal trouble stemmed from an alleged agreement between the think tank and the Cardano Foundation that dates back to July 2017. The Foundation claimed that it terminated the agreement for several reasons and rejected the London firm\u2019s claims. After the contract was voided, however, there were renewed reports of a potential intellectual property rights dispute between them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Replying to the threat, Cardano<\/a> founder Charles Hoskinson explained, \u201cIt\u2019s not an intellectual property dispute, It\u2019s merely a commercial dispute. IOHK has nothing to do with this issue. There is nothing in what Z\/Yen has done that has ended up in the protocol design of the code or anything implemented in Cardano.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hoskinson added that the entire dispute stemmed from the previous administration, under Michael Parsons, the former Chairman of the Foundation Council of the Cardano Foundation. As he explained, Parsons and Michael Mainelli, the Principal at the Z\/Yen Group, were good friends, and they were in the process of writing some reports on his company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the Cardano Foundation chose to re-evaluate all of its commercial relationships when Parsons was removed in 2018 after several allegations of misconduct. The nature of Parsons\u2019 removal forced the Foundation to make drastic changes, and it would seem that the deal with the think tank also broke down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving on with a Blockchain Update\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Despite the setback, the Cardano Foundation seems to be gearing up for a big year. On March 13, Hoskinson appeared in a YouTube Ask Me Anything (AME) live stream, where he confirmed that the coin would be launching several commercial infrastructures in the coming months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n