JavaScript luminaries and at least 2,500 other interested parties have again asked Oracle to set the programming language free by walking away from the trademark for its name.
Oracle controls the JavaScript trademark because in 2009 it acquired Sun Microsystems, which applied to trademark the name with the US Patent and Trademark Office back in 1995. The trademark was granted in 2000.
While the database giant does not use the name for any commercial products, its ownership of the trademark has led JavaScript-oriented organizations such as events biz JSConf to adopt branding that avoids the term. As the signatories to the letter observe, the world's most popular programming language therefore can't have a conference that mentions what it's about.
Fear of trademark litigation appears to be a valid concern, based on a claim last year that Rust for JavaScript Developers received a cease-and-desist letter from an attorney representing Oracle. The Register understands that Oracle dropped that claim several months later.
In the newly published open letter, Ryan Dahl, creator of Node.js, Brendan Eich, creator of JavaScript, Michal Ficarra, editor of the JavaScript spec, Rich Harris, creator of the Svelte framework, Isaac Schleuter, creator of npm, Feross Aboukhadijeh, CEO of Socket, James Snell, a member of the Node.js technical steering committee, and Syntax FM hosts Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski – along with more than 2,500 other signatories at the time this article was filed – urged Oracle to surrender its unused and therefore unneeded JavaScript trademark.
"As a longtime member of the JavaScript community, I believe it’s time for Oracle to release the JavaScript trademark," Aboukhadijeh, one of the leading signatories, told The Register. "JavaScript has become the foundation of modern web development, far beyond any single company's control.
"By holding onto this trademark, Oracle perpetuates unnecessary confusion in the developer community. It's time for JavaScript to be free, in name and in practice, so the language can continue to evolve and thrive without artificial barriers."
- Ellison declares Oracle all-in on AI mass surveillance, says it'll keep everyone in line
- Oracle accused of eating software maker's lunch with hostile hiring, trade secret theft
- Oracle Java police start knocking on Fortune 200's doors for first time
- Largest local government body in Europe goes under amid Oracle disaster
- Oracle Java license teams set to begin targeting Oracle users who don't think they use Oracle
This is the second attempt to elicit a response from Oracle. In 2022, Dahl published a similar note on his own, and Oracle did not respond.
The latest letter revisits his previous argument that Oracle does not make any product that relies upon the JavaScript trademark and thus should release the name rather than re-registering it for no reason.
What's new is the statement of intent to file a petition with The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel Oracle's JavaScript trademark for lack of use.
This is clearly a case of trademark abandonment
"My previous attempt was ignored, which wasn't surprising," Dahl told The Register. "This time, I'm approaching it more seriously after a lawyer friend mentioned the USPTO's process for trademark cancellation and noted that they've been cracking down on non-use recently. I am not going to rely simply on Oracle's goodwill (a bad bet if ever there was one).
"As outlined in the letter, this is clearly a case of trademark abandonment. With public pressure and hopefully some pro-bono legal support, I believe we can officially get 'JavaScript' recognized as the generic term it already is."
Dahl said his goal – now mainly through his work on open source JavaScript runtime Deno – is to improve JavaScript, since it has become the world's default programming language.
"So much of human infrastructure is built on the web – and JavaScript, like HTTP, HTML, and CSS, is a core part of what makes up the web. It's definitely going to be around five years from now, if not 10 or 20 – so it's really worth us building a good foundation for it," he explained. "That includes technical advancements, like what we're doing at Deno, as well as community and legal initiatives like this one."
Oracle did not respond to a request for comment. ®