Deno Land, the organization behind the Deno runtime for JavaScript, has petitioned the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel Oracle’s trademark for JavaScript. The petition claims that Oracle has effectively abandoned the trademark, citing the fact that since acquiring it from Sun Microsystems in 2009, the company has not sold any JavaScript-related goods or provided services linked to the language. This move is part of a broader effort to challenge Oracle’s claim over the JavaScript name, which some argue has been left dormant for over a decade.
The petition, submitted on November 22, follows a public plea from prominent figures in the JavaScript community. In September, Ryan Dahl, the creator of both Node.js and Deno, along with JavaScript’s creator Brendan Eich, and many others, issued an open letter asking Oracle to relinquish control over the JavaScript trademark. The letter has garnered over 14,000 signatures, indicating strong support for the petition and highlighting the growing frustration within the development community about Oracle’s lack of involvement in the language’s evolution.
Oracle has owned the JavaScript trademark since its acquisition of Sun Microsystems, yet it has played no active role in the JavaScript ecosystem or its ongoing development. Dahl expressed in a November 25 blog post that the petition seeks to address what he sees as a clear case of trademark abandonment. If Oracle chooses to challenge the petition, Dahl’s team is prepared to present evidence supporting their claim that “JavaScript” has become a generic term widely used by developers and organizations, disconnected from any association with Oracle.
Dahl referred to Oracle’s ownership of the trademark as an “outdated legal relic,” arguing that it has created unnecessary confusion and legal barriers for developers. One of the most concerning outcomes has been the issuance of cease-and-desist letters to organizations simply for using the term “JavaScript” in their names. The filing with the USPTO is seen as a crucial step toward removing these legal entanglements and allowing JavaScript to be used freely. If the petition is successful, it could pave the way for conferences and other events to use the term without fear of legal repercussions, and it could even lead to replacing ECMAScript with JavaScript as the official name for the language’s development specifications.