Deno Land, maker of the Deno runtime for JavaScript, TypeScript, and WebAssembly, has filed a petition with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel Oracle's JavaScript trademark.

The petition seeks to undo a legal barrier that has deterred the JavaScript community from referring to the programming language in various commercial contexts. It argues that Oracle's trademark rights in the word should be discontinued because: "JavaScript" is a generic term; Oracle allegedly committed fraud when filing for the trademark; and the database giant isn't actually using the trademark for commercial purposes.

"This filing marks a pivotal step toward freeing the name 'JavaScript' from legal entanglements and recognizing it as a public good, shared and maintained by the global developer community," said Ryan Dahl, founder of Deno and the creator of Node.js, in a blog post on Monday.

Dahl asked Oracle to surrender its JavaScript trademark back in 2022 but received no response. He did so again in September in a petition signed by more than 14,000 other signatories involved in web development. And again, Oracle did not answer.

"Oracle hasn't responded to either my original open letter or the one from September," Dahl told The Register. "By filing this petition with the USPTO, they're forced to respond."

Through the petition, Dahl hopes to remove the possibility of legal threats against those interested in using the term for products, events, and organizations.

"This outdated legal relic has caused confusion and unnecessary barriers, including cease-and-desist letters sent to organizations for simply using the term 'JavaScript' in their names," said Dahl.

Last year, Rust for JavaScript Developers received a cease-and-desist letter from an attorney representing Oracle, though that claim was subsequently dropped. Dahl said there have been other such incidents.

The Register is not aware that anyone has actually sued for violating the JavaScript trademark. But the possibility has been sufficient that the organizers of "JSConf" chose that term rather than "The JavaScript Conference."

The Petition for Cancellation argues that JavaScript is a generic term that Oracle has never controlled and thus isn't eligible under the law for trademark protection.

More provocatively, it claims that Oracle committed fraud when the software heavyweight applied for the trademark by submitting screen captures of the Nodejs.org website that Dahl created as evidence of Oracle's use of "JavaScript" in commerce.

"Node.js is not affiliated with Oracle, and the use of screen captures of the 'nodejs.org' website as a specimen did not show any use of the mark by Oracle or on behalf of Oracle," the petition says. "The statements made by Oracle’s authorized signatory were false at the time that they were made."

The petition also argues that Oracle abandoned the JavaScript trademark because it doesn't actually use the term in any of the products or services it sells.

Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Dahl, Oracle has until January 4, 2025 to respond and if it fails to do so, Deno is likely to win the case by default.

"We sincerely hope Oracle takes this path, acknowledging that 'JavaScript' belongs to its global community - not to a single corporation," said Dahl. "However, if Oracle chooses to fight, we are ready. We will present a wealth of evidence proving that Oracle has failed to use the trademark as the law requires." ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/11/26/cancel_oracles_javascript_trademark_deno/