Skipping 2-out-of-2, and going straight for an even better decentralized governance structure, would have made sense, had we had such a structure today.
But we’re very far from having such a structure. Despite the vigorous community discussions in the context of the Dev Fund, real progress has been very slow. Looking at the current Dev Fund proposals involving 3 or more parties, they all seem to suffer from critical issues and/or or wishful thinking about magically trustworthy third parties and committees springing into existence, where none currently exist.
Recall that the Zcash Foundation, as a nonprofit with a highly-regarded Board of Directors to steer its execution and its use of funds, took years to establish. Likewise, ECC’s Board of Directors took years to populate. If we want to create something even better, how long will it take?
So yes, the Dev Fund process may eventually converge to a solution that creates an overarching decentralized governance structure. It may also converge to other solutions. And in either case, it will take a long time to converge.
Now, if a fully decentralized governance mechanism is eventually found, and moreover is blessed by the community for control of the Dev Fund, then both ECC and Zfnd can be expected to transfer of control of the trademark to that mechanism. This can be mandated by the Dev Fund ZIP, as a condition for ECC and Zfnd receiving the funding. The risk of no-action seems very remote.
Conversely, if no such fully decenttralized governance mechanism is found and blessed by the community, then the hurdle of 2-out-of-2 is a feature, not a bug, and it is far better than any single party exercising unilateral control.
In the meanwhile, having ECC holding on to unilateral power over the trademark reflects badly on the power dynamics of the Dev Fund discussion. Moreover, ECC reneging on its promise for 2-out-of-2 control of the trademark reflects badly on its trustworthiness, and by extension, on Dev Fund approaches that entrust ECC with power or resources.
I urge ECC to complete the trademark-sharing process, perhaps augmenting it with a clause saying that both parties will respect the trademark mandates (if any) in ZIPs that establish a Dev Fund that will fund them.