JavaScript™ Trademark Update

On June 18, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has dismissed our fraud claim against Oracle. We disagree with this decision.

That claim alleged Oracle knowingly misled the USPTO in its 2019 renewal by submitting a screenshot of the Node.js website to show use of the “JavaScript” trademark. As the creator of Node.js, I find that especially offensive. Node.js was never an Oracle product or brand. Oracle didn’t create it, didn’t run it, and wasn’t authorized to use it to prop up its trademark. That they reached for a third-party open source site suggests they had no better proof—and knew it.

But fraud was never the heart of this case.

We’re not amending the fraud claim. Doing so would delay the case by months, and our focus is on the claims that matter most: genericness and abandonment. Everyone uses “JavaScript” to describe a language—not a brand. Not an Oracle product. Just the world’s most popular programming language.

The case now proceeds quickly.

On August 7, Oracle must respond to every paragraph of our cancellation petition—either admitting or denying our claims about genericness and abandonment. I’m eager to see what they challenge.

Discovery begins September 6.

Everyone knows JavaScript isn’t an Oracle product—and 19,550 people at javascript.tm agree (at the time of writing). This trademark doesn’t serve the public, the industry, or the purpose of trademark law. It’s just wrong.

If we win this cancellation—or if Oracle does the right thing and abandons the trademark—JavaScript will be free. No more ™ symbols. No more licensing fears. Just the name of the programming language that powers the web, belonging to everyone who uses it.