There is a viable solution for this as of Liferay 5.1.0 ( http://support.liferay.com/browse/LEP-6428 ). To subscribe to the close portlet event you would type: Liferay.Publisher.subscribe( 'closePortlet', fn, [scope] ); The first parameter is the event that is subscribed, in this case closePortlet. The next parameter is a function that will be executed when the portlet is closed, and the third parameter is option, and it's an object that sets the scope that you wish to execute your Javascript in. So for instance, if you wanted to remap the this object in the function you're passing in, you would pass that object. But of course, it's optional. Here is an example of how you would use it: Liferay.Publisher.subscribe( 'closePortlet', function (plid, portletId) { console.log(plid, portletId); } ); Now that the API is available on the client side for disposing of views, the developer can add a version following script to the portlet to enable disposing of a View when the portlet is closed via the portlet window widget. The script id attribute should be unique for each portlet but match the value in the line var e = 'id1234'.asElement(); //Portlet script         <script id="id1234" type="text/javascript">             //this function filters executes the callback function only if the 'e' element is included in the closed portlet             //function created to factored into a library             function filterEvent(element, callback) {                 return function(p) {                     var id = '_' + p.portletId + '_';                     var parent = element;                     while (parent) {                         if (parent.id == id) {                             callback();                             break;                         } else {                             parent = parent.parentNode;                         }                     }                 }             }             if (Liferay.Publisher) {                 var e = 'id1234'.asElement();                 Liferay.Publisher.subscribe('closePortlet', filterEvent(e, function() {                     $element(e).findBridge().disposeAndNotify();                 }));             }         </script>