In an open letter revealed September 16, Node.js and Deno creator Ryan Dahl, JavaScript creator Brendan Eich, and several other different main members of the JavaScript neighborhood have accused Oracle of abandoning the JavaScript trademark and urge the corporate to launch the trademark to the general public area. By September 20, the letter had drawn greater than 10,000 signatures.
Titled “Oracle, it’s time to free JavaScript,” the letter says that Oracle’s possession of the JavaScript trademark is just a relic of its 2009 acquisition of Sun Microsystems, that neither Sun nor Oracle ever constructed a product containing the mark, and that Oracle’s de facto abandonment of the trademark has precipitated widespread confusion and disruption.
Oracle turning over the trademark would alleviate confusion, stated Dahl, CEO and co-founder of Deno Land, on September 19. “It would allow the official specification for JavaScript to actually say [JavaScript]. Currently it calls itself ‘ECMAScript.’ It would allow, for example, there to be a ‘JavaScript Conference,’” Dahl stated. “It would allow companies, like Deno, to say things like ‘Deno is a JavaScript runtime’ without fear of legal action by Oracle.” Dahl and different JavaScript neighborhood members behind the web letter plan to file a petition with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in October to cancel the trademark.
