Node.js Trademarks Transferred to OpenJS Foundation

OpenJS Foundation had previously been granted free, perpetual license to use Node.js trademarks and logo for the past 6 years

SAN FRANCISCO – February 14, 2022 – The OpenJS Foundation, providing vendor-neutral support for sustained growth within the open source JavaScript community, is announcing acquisition of ownership of the Node.js logo trademarks. 

Effective immediately, the OpenJS Foundation will take on the ongoing management and maintenance of the Node.js trademarks. The ownership and stewardship of the Node.js trademarks has moved from Joyent to the OpenJS Foundation. The rules governing usage of the Node.js trademarks will now be consistent with all of the other OpenJS Foundation projects’ trademarks. For contributors, nothing will change. 

Node.js is an Impact Project hosted at the OpenJS Foundation. For the past six years, Joyent has granted the OpenJS Foundation (and the Node.js Foundation prior) a perpetual, free license to use the “Node.js” trademarks, including the Node.js hexagon graphic.

The Node.js Technical Steering Committee (TSC) responded to the news, “It’s great to see the Node.js trademarks move over to the OpenJS Foundation. It’s been a hope since the formation of the Foundation and we’re happy to see it become a reality. One of the advantages of Node.js being a project at the OpenJS Foundation is legal support including the management of things like trademarks to help protect the work of the broad range of collaborators.”

Trademarks are important to the protection and adoption of an open source project because they identify a specific source of the code. Our goal is to ensure that the OpenJS trademark policy is as flexible and easy to understand as legally possible, while assuring the quality of products or services using Node.js or other OpenJS projects’ brands. 

“The responsible stewardship of the Node.js project over the past decade has led to critical, widespread adoption. This stewardship and positive collaboration between Joyent and originally the Node.js Foundation, now the OpenJS Foundation, has helped overcome differences among the contributors and the code base,” said Robin Ginn, OpenJS Foundation Executive Director. “Joyent can confidently contribute its trademarks to the OpenJS Foundation as a place of stability and industry-wide collaboration.” 

“Joyent has long believed in the power of open source to create opportunities for developers and businesses, and it’s gratifying to see how Node.js underpins the economic growth for so many,” said Sung Whan Moon, President & COO, Joyent. “The OpenJS Foundation is the right place to house ownership of the Node.js trademarks. As Node.js moves into its second decade, having the trademarks in a neutral home, but with the ability to enact trademark restrictions if needed, fully ensures the integrity of the project.”

Node.js is a healthy community supported extensively by companies that have increased the scale and commercial adoption of this project, including Bloomberg, NASA, Netflix, and many more. Node.js just shipped Node.js 17 and moved Node.js 16 to Long Term Support (LTS).

“The OpenJS Foundation will make a good home for the Node.js trademarks. Joyent is a long-standing member of the OpenJS Foundation, and developers can continue to rely on Node.js and build high quality solutions and products,” said Sean Johnson, Head of Commercial Group, Joyent, and OpenJS Board Platinum Director. “The outlook for Node.js adoption is brighter than ever.”

“A big thank you to OpenJS Foundation member Joyent. They are an important community member of the Node.js ecosystem and have assisted in the stewardship of the Node.js trademarks for the past decade. This is a good progression forward, and bodes well for the next decade of Node.js development,” said Todd Moore, VP of Open Technology and Developer Advocacy at IBM, and OpenJS Foundation Board Chairperson. “The OpenJS Foundation is positioned well to pursue its mission of driving the broad adoption of JavaScript technologies and ongoing development of key Node.js solutions and related technologies.”

Work is well underway on the future of Node.js at the OpenJS Foundation, and Node.js continues to grow. The OpenJS Foundation staff and Cross Project Council (CPC) community technical leaders are working on security and diversity efforts and much more. The Node.js maintainers are working collaboratively on the strategic directions for Node.js over the coming decade. If you want to join this effort please see Node.js next-10 and join one of the projects teams or working groups.. 

OpenJS Resources

To learn more about how you could be a part of the OpenJS Foundation, click here.

• OpenJS World 2022
• OpenJS Node.js Training & Certification Program
• OpenJS Latest News and Blogs
• Open JS Slack Workspace 

About OpenJS Foundation

The OpenJS Foundation is committed to supporting the healthy growth of the JavaScript ecosystem and web technologies by providing a neutral organization to host and sustain projects, as well as collaboratively fund activities for the benefit of the community at large. The OpenJS Foundation is made up of 38 open source JavaScript projects including Appium, Dojo, jQuery, Node.js, and webpack and is supported by 30 corporate and end-user members, including GoDaddy, Google, IBM, Intel, Joyent, and Microsoft. These members recognize the interconnected nature of the JavaScript ecosystem and the importance of providing a central home for projects which represent significant shared value. 

About Linux Foundation

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation is supported by more than 1000 members and is the world’s leading home for collaboration on open source software, open standards, and open hardware. Linux Foundation projects like Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js and more are considered critical to the development of the world’s most important infrastructure. Its development methodology leverages established best practices and addresses the needs of contributors, users and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit their website.

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