Deno Land, the maker of a popular JavaScript runtime, has asked the United States Patent and Trademark Office to strip Oracle’s JavaScript trademark.

Oracle acquired the JavaScript trademark when it purchased Sun Microsystems in 2009. According to Deno, the term “JavaScript” too generic to be protected by trademark.

The term “JavaScript” is the generic term for a general-purpose programming language used globally by millions of developers. It is widely recognized as the generic term for the programming language defined by the ECMA-262 specification, maintained by Ecma International’s TC39, a committee with representatives from major browser vendors and JavaScript developers.

Oracle does not control (and has never controlled) any aspect of the specification or how the phrase “JavaScript” can be used by others.

Today, millions of companies, universities, academics, and programmers, including Petitioner, use “JavaScript” daily without any involvement with Oracle. The phrase “JavaScript” does not belong to one corporation. It belongs to the public. JavaScript is the generic name for one of the bedrock languages of modern programming, and, therefore, the Registered Mark must be canceled.

Allegations of Fraud

In addition to the issues presented by the generic nature of the term, Deno alleges that Oracle has engaged in fraud when it renewed the trademark in 2019. Deno provides documentation showing that Oracle showed screen captures of the Node.js website as evidence of Oracle’s ownership of JavaScript. There’s just one issue…Node.js has nothing to do with Oracle, as Deno points out.

Oracle, through its attorney, submitted specimens showing screen captures of the Node.js website, a project created by Ryan Dahl, Petitioner’s Chief Executive Officer. 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.

Moreso, as of December 26, 2019, Oracle knew that it had no connection with Node.js and that its use of Node.js’s website to show “use in commerce” of the phrase “JavaScript” by Oracle was not valid.

Oracle’s knowingly fraudulent statements were material to the USPTO’s decision to renew the Registered Mark, reg. no. 2416017.

Abandoned Trademark

Deno also claims that Oracle has essentially abandoned the JavaScript trademark by not selling any goods or services pertaining to JavaScript since the company acquired Sun and the trademark.

In the alternative, if the phrase “JavaScript” is not generic, then Oracle has abandoned the Registered Mark with no intent (or ability) to resume use for Oracle’s Goods and Services.

In the alternative, Oracle has not sold any goods or rendered any services showing the Registered Mark as a source identifier since acquiring the mark from the Registered Mark’s original owner, Sun Microsystems, Inc., in 2009.

JavaScript is one of the fundamental building blocks of the internet, and increasingly of desktop apps and even operating systems. There certainly appears to be some merit to Deno’s argument that JavaScript is simply too generic and widely used for one single company to “own” it, especially if that company is not actively doing anything to further JavaScript’s development.