Oracle, it's time to free JavaScript

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Status of the JavaScript trademark

  • Trademark is still registered and regularly renewed by Oracle, so not legally abandoned.
  • Several comments explain “abandonment” as a legal finding, not just “not really using it”.
  • Petition authors argue it is practically abandoned and aim to get USPTO to cancel it if Oracle won’t voluntarily release it.
  • Oracle lists uses like GraalVM / JS toolkit as “use in commerce”; some see this as weak but legally arguable.

Practical impact and risks

  • Main concern: legal uncertainty and potential for selective or vindictive enforcement, even if Oracle mostly does nothing now.
  • One commenter reports a cease-and-desist over a course titled “Rust for JavaScript developers”.
  • Others note Oracle hasn’t actively gone after the countless existing uses of “JavaScript”, which suggests limited appetite to litigate.

Alternatives: rename or free the mark?

  • Some argue this is a non-issue: just call the language ECMAScript, JS, or something else and move on.
  • Others push back: “ECMAScript” is widely disliked, “JavaScript” is deeply entrenched in books, blogs, and culture, and rebranding is unrealistic.
  • Suggested alternative names include JS, WebScript, LiveScript (original name), WebPageScript, and jokes like LavaScript.
  • A few suggest TC39 and specs should formally deprecate the term “JavaScript” in favor of “JS”.

Oracle’s incentives and behavior

  • Many see Oracle as unwilling to give up any potentially valuable IP, indifferent to community goodwill, and unmoved by moral arguments.
  • View that only a strong legal challenge or clear economic incentive would change Oracle’s stance.

Popularity and quality debate

  • Some claim JavaScript is the world’s most-used language; others cite stats disagreeing or contest definitions (e.g., HTML/CSS, SQL).
  • Several argue JavaScript’s popularity is due to lack of real alternatives in the browser, not affection for the language.
  • Opinions range from “popular but terrible” to calls for superseding it with TypeScript, WebAssembly-based approaches, or other “second-gen” languages.