Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by cosmotic 533 days ago
JavaScript can refer to many different similar languages, the runtimes, the standard library, etc.

People using JavaScript without getting permission are potentially infringing on Oracle's trademark. Many companies with trademarks tenaciously defend the trademark to protect it from being revoked. This doesn't appear to be the case with JavaScript. After usage becomes widespread, a company risks losing their trademark because they did not actively enforce the use of the trademark.

This video explains it from Velcro's perspective https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRi8LptvFZY

2 comments

I can't believe this is real. A US corporation that everyone knows making a video about their trademark and it's not corporate slop but well made, somewhat making fun of themselves even not shying away from "coarse" language? I kept on looking at the username because surely this had to be a parody.

Went to Wikipedia:

"Velcro is a *British privately held*" company".

Makes slightly more sense now, don't think it would have seen the light of day if either of those were different.

That is one of my favorite videos!

Content advisory: there is one swear word in it that is bleeped out.

Near the end they mention some other trademarks, and adding to the fun they bleep out those too - and even put CENSORED overlays on the singers' mouths.

They also made a followup video that is just as delightful (and slightly more NSFW):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLWMQLMiTPk

And here is a fun article about some other companies' friendly alternatives to the traditional C&D letter:

https://www.cll.com/OnMyMindBlog/creativity-can-make-tradema...