Yesterday, July 22, 2025, The Film3 DAO filed opposition on a trademark against Film3. On the surface, this may seem like a legal dispute over a name. But for those of us who’ve built, contributed to, and believed in the Film3 movement, this moment stands for something much deeper: a fight to preserve the spirit of freedom that brought us to the blockchain in the first place.

Film3 isn't a brand or company—it’s a decentralized movement redefining how stories are told, funded, distributed, and owned. Born from the ethos of Web3, Film3 empowers filmmakers to break free from traditional gatekeepers and reclaim agency over their work. It’s a global ecosystem where filmmakers, fans, and technologists collaborate openly, where ownership is shared, and where value is in the community built around it. At its core, Film3 is about creative sovereignty, radical transparency, and the belief that the future of cinema should belong to everyone.

The term Film3 was born from a collective vision—a decentralized, creator-first movement rooted in the principles of Web3. It didn’t emerge from one individual, brand, or company, but from a global community of artists, builders, technologists, and storytellers who saw a broken system and dared to imagine a new one. Film3 is an industry, a method, a movement—and so much more. It's broad enough for anyone to adopt and apply to their own way of creating. In that sense, the term functions like “email” for communication or Web3 for decentralized applications.

The attempt to trademark Film3 by a single party isn’t just a bureaucratic move—it’s a power grab. It’s an effort to gatekeep a term that belongs to all of us, to privatize language that was never meant to be owned. And when someone tries to put a fence around freedom, we have a duty to speak up.

Filing a formal opposition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is a way to say: No. You do not get to co-opt a movement. You do not get to claim exclusive rights over something that was built collaboratively.

This opposition is not about ego or conflict—it’s about principle. It’s about ensuring that Film3 remains open and accessible to all filmmakers and communities who identify with its mission. It's about protecting the future of decentralized storytelling and preserving the authenticity of a movement that’s bigger than any one name or person.

When we talk about resisting this trademark, we’re not just talking about legalities. We’re talking about preserving freedom of expression, open innovation, and the decentralized ethos that makes Web3 powerful. The blockchain was built to eliminate gatekeepers, not create new ones. We came here to build systems that are transparent, inclusive, and fair—not to replicate the same structures of control we left behind.

To allow Film3 to become a trademark owned by one party would be to betray those ideals. It would set a dangerous precedent: that community-created language and values can be captured, commodified, and controlled.

This opposition filing is a call to everyone in the space—not just filmmakers, but anyone who believes in the promise of Web3: stay vigilant, stay vocal, and stay united. Movements like Film3 survive only when we collectively protect them.

We owe it to the artists pushing boundaries, the builders designing open platforms, the educators spreading knowledge, and the dreamers who still believe in a better way forward.

There are no kings in Film3. No gatekeepers. No centralized power.

Our fight is far from over. There are FIVE more trademark applications we must oppose—each one a direct threat to the freedom to Film3 in our own creative work. These filings don’t just target branding; they endanger our right to host Film3 festivals, publish books and blog posts under the term, and teach our own methods through workshops and classes. This is a battle for creative freedom, education, and the future of independent storytelling. If you believe in protecting open access to the Film3 movement, please contribute to our legal defense fund: https://dexscreener.com/base/0xd172198a7d8a2701ac3aec813472ecf2c65b2a40.

Check out and support our growing body of work here: https://zora.co/@film3

Film3 is for everyone. And it always will be. Thank you for supporting, building and defending Film3.