The ExpressLRS Lua script has had a major overhaul. It loads faster, colour radios get a new touch user interface, and it now comes with three new tools: a VTX Admin widget for quick channel changes at race events, a telemetry widget for your home screen, and a Bind Phrase Manager.
As of late, the ExpressLRS project has received several "security disclosures" from "cybersecurity experts" suggesting certain changes to the project. While we welcome security disclosures that make sense with the project's goals, the majority that we've seen boil down to fearmongering around the undisputed fact that ExpressLRS is unencrypted.
After months of delays, broken promises, and incomplete compliance, the ExpressLRS team has issued a final pre-litigation demand letter through our legal counsel. This represents the final step before initiating formal judicial and administrative proceedings.
When we published our October 22nd update, we had reason to be cautiously optimistic. The unauthorized Chinese trademark application had been rejected, the US application's attorney had withdrawn, and the expresslrs[.]dev domain had been taken down. Coming up soon was the October 31st deadline for the demands in our cease and desist letter.
October 31st came and went without a peep, and as we prepared to move to the next phase, on November 2nd the individual behind these filings reached out through an intermediary to negotiate resolution. At that time, the individual agreed to:
We extended goodwill, provided an additional 48-hour grace period, and worked with them to facilitate these transfers.
Good news: The unauthorized trademark applications are gradually being rejected, and ExpressLRS LLC is making significant progress protecting the project's identity worldwide.
When we published our initial post on October 3rd, we were facing unauthorized trademark applications in China and the United States. Here's where things stand today:
The unauthorized Chinese trademark application (No. 84786671) has been rejected outright - in a way that cannot be appealed. This is tremendous news for the team and the community.
Following our cease-and-desist letter sent on October 2nd, 2025, the attorney representing the unauthorized US trademark application has withdrawn from the case entirely. This means if the US Patent and Trademark Office finds any reason to reject the application, the applicant will have to navigate the process without legal representation.
We are now preparing a letter of protest to provide the examining attorney with additional grounds for rejection.
Running a successful open-source project is one of the most rewarding experiences for a developer community. It’s also a journey full of unexpected challenges - some technical, some human, and, as we’ve recently learned, some legal.
This post is both an update on the status of the ExpressLRS project and a cautionary tale for other maintainers of widely adopted open-source software and hardware: if your project becomes popular, you must take legal steps early to protect its name and identity.
Imagine spending years building an open-source project, only to find someone else trying to claim its name. On August 25th, 2025, we were notified that an individual named Christina Sauer had applied to register ExpressLRS as a trademark in China (Application No. 84786671).
On August 27th, 2025, this individual also registered the domain name expresslrs[.]dev.
On September 8th, 2025, we received further notification of another application from the same individual to register ExpressLRS as a trademark in the United States (Serial No. 99380841).