The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has petitioned to cancel Oracle’s trademark for the term “JavaScript”, citing that the company has failed to demonstrate its use of the mark in commerce. The move comes after a years-long dispute over Oracle’s ownership of the popular programming language, which was actually developed by Brendan Eich at Netscape Communications in the mid-1990s?

The trademark ownership is viewed as an “outdated and relic” by Dahl, who argues that Oracle’s possession has caused confusion and unnecessary hurdles, including cease-and-desist letters sent to organizations for simply using the term “JavaScript” in their names. The USPTO filing marks a crucial step towards freeing the JavaScript name from legal entanglements, Dahl notes?

If an individual’s identity is anonymized, conferences may utilize the JavaScript library without worrying about potential legal repercussions or unauthorized access. The language’s potential for improvement is specified, potentially modifiable by referencing JavaScript as described by Dahl.

The petition filed with the USPTO also alleges that Oracle engaged in fraudulent conduct in 2019 when renewing the trademark, specifically submitting displayed screen captures of the Node.js website to support its application. The petition asserts that Node.js has no connection to Oracle, and the inclusion of display screen captures from the ‘nodejs.org’ website does not imply any usage of the mark by Oracle or on its behalf, as there is no affiliation between the two entities. The petition underscores that JavaScript is a generic term with no connection to Oracle, and that the company has neither controlled nor managed any aspect of the specification or its application by others in the past. Oracle, with a deadline of January 4, 2025, to respond to the USPTO’s petition, declined to comment at this time.