The Bprotocol Foundation and LocalCoin Ltd., the organizations that created the Bancor Protocol, have sued Uniswap Labs and the Uniswap Foundation for patent infringement in the U.S. District Court.
The case was filed in the Southern District of New York on May 20, 2025.
From the start of its protocol in 2018, the plaintiffs claim that Uniswap has been exploiting their proprietary “constant product automated market maker” (CPAMM) technology without permission.
With the use of the technology, decentralized token exchanges are possible without the use of centralized middlemen.
Bancor Claims Uniswap Profits from Its Tech Without Licensing Agreement
The technology, according to Bancor, is the foundation of Uniswap’s protocol, which generates substantial profits for Uniswap without the need for a licensing deal.
According to Mark Richardson, Project Lead at Bancor, safeguarding their intellectual property is crucial for promoting innovation in the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry.
He added, “If companies like Uniswap can act unchecked, we fear it will hinder innovation across the industry to the detriment of all DeFi players.”
Uniswap has not yet addressed the lawsuit in public.
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Bancor Sues Uniswap Over Alleged Smart Contract Patent Infringement
Bancor has sued Uniswap for allegedly violating its proprietary smart contract technology, which is utilized in decentralized trading, through the Bprotocol Foundation and LocalCoin Ltd.
The main invention at the heart of the dispute is the continual product automated market maker (CPAMM), which Bancor asserts it created and patented before Uniswap’s debut. Without depending on conventional order books, CPAMM enables decentralized token exchanges.
Bancor claims that Uniswap has illegally built its protocol on top of this exact process, profiting from what it refers to as the unapproved use of patented technology.
Since Uniswap is one of the most popular decentralized exchanges, the verdict in this case may have a significant impact for intellectual property rights, innovation, and the DeFi ecosystem as a whole.
Bancor Patented AMM-Based DEX Tech in 2017 After Inventing It in 2016
Bancor developed its decentralized trading technology in 2016 and filed for a patent in early 2017, using it to launch the first automated market maker (AMM)-based decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol.
Bprotocol Foundation and LocalCoin Ltd., the entities behind Bancor, claim full ownership of the intellectual property.
In their lawsuit, they allege that Uniswap Labs has illegally used this patented technology since introducing Uniswap v1 in November 2018.
The core of the dispute lies in Uniswap’s use of the constant product AMM model, which Bancor claims to have invented.
The lawsuit also points to Uniswap’s continued expansion, including the launch of its Carbon DEX platform in April 2023, as further evidence of ongoing infringement.
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