diff --git a/IPython/html/static/base/js/utils.js b/IPython/html/static/base/js/utils.js
index 3b59a10dd..c8409249e 100644
--- a/IPython/html/static/base/js/utils.js
+++ b/IPython/html/static/base/js/utils.js
@@ -488,16 +488,6 @@ IPython.utils = (function (IPython) {
         }
     }
 
-    var get_attr_names = function (e) {
-        // Get the names of all the HTML attributes of the element e.
-        var el = $(e)[0];
-        var arr = [];
-        for (var i=0, attrs=el.attributes, l=attrs.length; i<l; i++){
-            arr.push(attrs.item(i).nodeName);
-        }
-        return arr;
-    }
-
     return {
         regex_split : regex_split,
         uuid : uuid,
@@ -516,8 +506,7 @@ IPython.utils = (function (IPython) {
         browser : browser,
         platform: platform,
         is_or_has : is_or_has,
-        is_focused : is_focused,
-        get_attr_names: get_attr_names
+        is_focused : is_focused
     };
 
 }(IPython));