diff --git a/syft/cataloger/javascript/parse_package_json_test.go b/syft/cataloger/javascript/parse_package_json_test.go
index 869d4293f..1bd604f8d 100644
--- a/syft/cataloger/javascript/parse_package_json_test.go
+++ b/syft/cataloger/javascript/parse_package_json_test.go
@@ -30,6 +30,23 @@ func TestParsePackageJSON(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			Fixture: "test-fixtures/pkg-json/package-license-object.json",
+			ExpectedPkg: pkg.Package{
+				Name:         "npm",
+				Version:      "6.14.6",
+				Type:         pkg.NpmPkg,
+				Licenses:     []string{"ISC"},
+				Language:     pkg.JavaScript,
+				MetadataType: pkg.NpmPackageJSONMetadataType,
+				Metadata: pkg.NpmPackageJSONMetadata{
+					Author:   "Isaac Z. Schlueter <i@izs.me> (http://blog.izs.me)",
+					Homepage: "https://docs.npmjs.com/",
+					URL:      "https://github.com/npm/cli",
+					Licenses: []string{"ISC"},
+				},
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			Fixture: "test-fixtures/pkg-json/package-nested-author.json",
 			ExpectedPkg: pkg.Package{
diff --git a/syft/cataloger/javascript/test-fixtures/pkg-json/package-license-object.json b/syft/cataloger/javascript/test-fixtures/pkg-json/package-license-object.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9c5d61567
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syft/cataloger/javascript/test-fixtures/pkg-json/package-license-object.json
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+{
+  "version": "6.14.6",
+  "name": "npm",
+  "description": "a package manager for JavaScript",
+  "homepage": "https://docs.npmjs.com/",
+  "author": "Isaac Z. Schlueter <i@izs.me> (http://blog.izs.me)",
+  "repository": {
+    "type": "git",
+    "url": "https://github.com/npm/cli"
+  },
+  "bugs": {
+    "url": "https://npm.community/c/bugs"
+  },
+  "main": "./lib/npm.js",
+  "license": {
+    "type" : "ISC",
+    "url" : "https://opensource.org/licenses/ISC"
+  },
+  "engines": {
+    "node": "6 >=6.2.0 || 8 || >=9.3.0"
+  }
+}