Oracle is ready to fight for the JavaScript trademark after several previous open letters written by developers failed to get the company to make the JavaScript name available to anyone. The developer of the popular JavaScript runtime, Deno Land, reported on Mastodon that Oracle had informed them that it would not revoke the trademark, so the developer group could only achieve its goal through litigation.
According to Deno’s communication, it is also fully prepared for the fight, as it has gathered enough evidence that JavaScript is now a common term widely used by developers and organizations without any connection to Oracle. One of the strongest arguments might be that if JavaScript is not a generic term, then why Oracle has not yet developed and sold any commercial “JavaScript” products.
After that, Deno will be forced to prove its right in legal proceedings, but the case will not be over anytime soon, as due to the deadlines, a decision can be made in the summer of 2026 at the earliest. Oracle’s official response is expected before February 3, unless the deadline is extended again, after which preparations for negotiations can begin at the beginning of March.
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At the end of September last year, more than 2,500 stakeholders wrote an open letter to Oracle to abandon JavaScript trademark, which came into the company’s ownership in 2009 after the acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Back in 1995, Sun applied for protection of the name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which was finalized in 2000, and since then there have been numerous attempts to get the company to make the use of the programming language name quasi-free. After Oracle failed to respond to developers’ requests for several times, Deno filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) at the end of November to cancel the “JavaScript” brand name.
Although the database giant does not use the JavaScript name for any commercial products, as the owner of the trademark it exercises control over the term, resulting in JavaScript-oriented organizations such as JSConf having to refrain from using the name to avoid potential legal ramifications.
If the term JavaScript were to be released, in the future various related projects, companies, conferences, and essentially anyone could use it freely without having to fear possible litigation, which Oracle would probably win with valid protection, and the official specification of the standard could also include the name JavaScript instead of the current ECMAScript.
Source: www.hwsw.hu
