Let me tell you about one of the most absurd legal battles in programming history, and somehow it involves Oracle being the villain, which somehow still manages to surprise me.

Oracle — the company that makes database software so expensive governments literally cannot afford it — somehow owns the trademark for JavaScript. The language that runs the entire internet. The language that Brendan Eich wrote in ten days in 1995. The language that has absolutely nothing to do with Java (a naming mistake so egregious that even Sun Microsystems tried to fix it later with “ECMAScript”).

Oracle got this “privilege” by acquiring Sun Microsystems in 2009. Sun had trademarked “JavaScript” back in 1995 because that’s what you did in the 90s — companies would trademark programming language names while contributing absolutely nothing to the actual ecosystem. Sun didn’t build JavaScript. Netscape built JavaScript. Sun just got the trademark because… well, it was 1995 and nobody was paying attention.

Then Oracle bought Sun, and along came a bunch of Solaris servers and a trademark to a programming language that Oracle has never once used in any product, ever.

Here’s what makes this situation so beautifully stupid:

  • JavaScript is the most used programming language on Earth. Every website. Every browser. Node.js runs servers. Deno runs servers. Bun runs servers. React, Vue, Svelte, Angular — all JavaScript. Every single one.

  • Oracle has never shipped a JavaScript product. Not once. Not a framework. Not a runtime. Not even a documentation page with “JavaScript” in the title that wasn’t about someone else’s JavaScript.

  • The community is terrified to use the name. Conferences are called “JSConf” instead of “JavaScript Conference” because someone might get a letter from Oracle’s lawyers. That’s actually happened — there’s at least one account of a developer receiving a cease-and-desist over using “JavaScript” in their conference title.

  • The official spec is called ECMAScript because… they couldn’t use “JavaScript.” The language literally cannot be called by its real name in its own specification. That’s not irony, that’s a goddamn tragedy.

Enter Ryan Dahl, Stage Left

In 2022, Ryan Dahl — the creator of Node.js and Deno — politely asked Oracle to release the trademark. Oracle ignored him completely. Imagine that: you create two of the most important JavaScript runtimes in history, you ask nicely, and Oracle can’t even be bothered to respond.

So in late 2024, Dahl (through Deno Land) filed a formal petition with the USPTO to cancel Oracle’s trademark. The petition makes three arguments:

  1. JavaScript is generic. The term now refers to the language itself, not a product. You can’t trademark a word that means “the programming language” to every developer on Earth.

  2. Oracle committed fraud in 2019. When Oracle renewed the trademark, they submitted a screenshot of the Node.js website as “proof of use.” Node.js — which is not an Oracle product, never was, and was created by the same guy now trying to take the trademark away. Oracle literally used thepetitioner’s own project as evidence they were using the trademark. The audacity.

  3. The trademark has been abandoned. Oracle hasn’t sold a single “JavaScript” product or service. They’re not enforcing it. They’re just… holding it. Like a gremlin.

The petition picked up over 16,000 signatures from developers, including Brendan Eich himself. That’s got to sting — the creator of JavaScript asking someone else to please stop owning the name of his creation.

Oracle’s response to all of this was exactly what you’d expect from a company that made billions suing people over SQL patents: they filed a motion to dismiss, trying to kill the fraud claim. Not even defending their right to the trademark — just trying to slow things down.

Then the TTAB (Trademark Trial and Appeal Board) dismissed the fraud claim in June 2025. Dahl disagreed with the ruling, but the case continues on the other two grounds: genericness and abandonment.

Discovery is happening now. Oracle has to actually answer the claims in the next few months. The truth is simple: everyone in tech knows JavaScript isn’t an Oracle product. The entire language is governed by TC39, standardized by ECMA, and implemented by Google, Apple, Mozilla, and Microsoft. Oracle has zero involvement.

Yet somehow, Big Red still holds the trademark. And they’re going to fight to keep it, presumably because… why not? It’s not like they have to do any work. They just have lawyers.

This Is What Happens When Corporate Law Meets Open Source

The worst part isn’t even Oracle. It’s the precedent. If companies can hold onto trademarks for technologies they didn’t create, don’t use, and have no involvement in, then the trademark system becomes a weapon for anyone with a legal team and no shame.

This fight matters beyond JavaScript. It’s about whether corporations can squat on names that belong to the entire development community. It’s about whether the language that runs the internet can finally be called by its actual name in its own specification.

If Deno wins, “JavaScript Conference” becomes a thing. The spec can be called “JavaScript Specification.” Developers can stop adding ™ to everything in their documentation out of paranoia.

If Oracle wins… well, nothing changes, except we all keep living in the weird legal gray zone where the most important programming language in the world can’t legally be named by its own community.

The Irony Is Delicious

Let’s be clear: Brendan Eich created JavaScript in 1995. Netscape owned it. Sun got the trademark through some 90s deal that made sense at the time. Oracle inherited it by accident in 2009. And now the creator, the Node.js creator, and millions of developers are asking — begging, really — to just please let us call the language by its name.

Oracle’s counterargument in court filings: “Relevant consumers do not perceive JavaScript as a generic term.”

I genuinely want to know what “relevant consumers” Oracle is talking about. Every developer on Earth? Every company that writes JavaScript code? The 19,000 people who signed the petition?

This is going to play out over the next year or so. The TTAB will rule on genericness and abandonment. Either way, something is going to change.

And if Oracle somehow manages to keep the trademark after all this? I’ll be genuinely impressed. Not in a good way. In a “how is this even possible” way.

JavaScript belongs to everyone except the company that somehow owns it. Let’s see how long that contradiction can hold up in court.