This story has been up to date all through with extra particulars because the story has developed. We are going to proceed to take action because the case and dispute are ongoing.
The neighborhood round WordPress, probably the most fashionable applied sciences for creating and internet hosting web sites, goes by means of a really heated controversy. On the core is a battle between WordPress’ co-creator and Automattic’s CEO Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine, which hosts web sites constructed on WordPress.
WordPress’ expertise is open supply and free, and it powers an enormous chunk of the web — round 40% of internet sites are constructed on high of WordPress. Web sites can host their very own WordPress occasion or use an answer supplier like Automattic or WP Engine for a plug-and-play answer.
In mid-September, Mullenweg, who owns WordPress.org and the WordPress Basis, launched a marketing campaign towards WP Engine with a weblog publish wherein he referred to as the corporate a “cancer to WordPress,” calling it out for not contributing sufficiently to the open-source venture. He additionally mentioned WP Engine’s use of the “WP” model has confused clients into believing it’s a part of WordPress.
Since then, Mullenweg/Automattic and WP Engine have been locked in a authorized battle. Mullenweg has accused WP Engine of infringing the WordPress Trademark, whereas WP Engine has hit Mullenweg and Automattic with a lawsuit, accusing them of extortion, interference with operations, abuse of energy, and hurt to enterprise.
The turmoil has affected each corporations and the WordPress neighborhood at massive. Contributors to the open-source venture in addition to leaders of corporations within the ecosystem have spoken out towards the battle, calling for governance modifications, and highlighting considerations about Mullenweg’s lack of accountability.
Right here’s a fast recap of your entire saga:
The authorized battle
In a reply to Mullenweg’s feedback, WP Engine in September despatched a cease-and-desist letter to Mullenweg and Automattic, asking them to withdraw their feedback. It additionally mentioned that its use of the WordPress trademark was coated underneath honest use.
The corporate claimed that Mullenweg had mentioned he would take a “scorched earth nuclear approach” towards WP Engine until it agreed to pay “a significant percentage of its revenues for a license to the WordPress trademark.”
In response, Automattic despatched its personal cease-and-desist letter to WP Engine, saying that they’d breached WordPress and WooCommerce trademark utilization guidelines.
The WordPress Basis, owned by Mullenweg, additionally modified its Trademark Coverage web page and referred to as out WP Engine, alleging the internet hosting service has confused customers.
“The abbreviation ‘WP’ is not covered by the WordPress trademarks, but please don’t use it in a way that confuses people. For example, many people think WP Engine is ‘WordPress Engine’ and is officially associated with WordPress, which is not. They have never once even donated to the WordPress Foundation, despite making billions of revenue on top of WordPress,” the up to date web page reads.
WP Engine ban and trademark battle
Mullenweg then banned WP Engine from accessing the sources of WordPress.org. Whereas components like plug-ins and themes are underneath open supply license, suppliers like WP Engine should run a service to fetch them, which isn’t coated underneath the open supply license.
This broke numerous web sites and prevented them from updating plug-ins and themes. It additionally left a few of them open to safety assaults. The neighborhood was not happy with this method of leaving small web sites helpless.
In response to the incident, WP Engine mentioned in a publish that Mullenweg had misused his management of WordPress to intervene with WP Engine clients’ entry to WordPress.org.
“Matt Mullenweg’s unprecedented and unwarranted action interferes with the normal operation of the entire WordPress ecosystem, impacting not just WP Engine and our customers, but all WordPress plugin developers and open source users who depend on WP Engine tools like ACF,” WP Engine mentioned.
On September 27, WordPress.org lifted the ban briefly, permitting WP Engine to entry sources till October 1.
Mullenweg wrote a weblog publish clarifying that the battle is simply towards WP Engine over logos. He mentioned Automattic has been attempting to dealer a trademark licensing deal for a very long time, however WP Engine’s solely response has been to “string us along.”
On September 30, a day earlier than the WordPress.org deadline for the ban on WP Engine, the internet hosting firm up to date its website’s footer to make clear it isn’t straight affiliated with the WordPress Basis or owns the WordPress commerce.
“WP Engine is a proud member and supporter of the community of WordPress® users. The WordPress® trademark is the intellectual property of the WordPress Foundation, and the Woo® and WooCommerce® trademarks are the intellectual property of WooCommerce, Inc. Uses of the WordPress®, Woo®, and WooCommerce® names in this website are for identification purposes only and do not imply an endorsement by WordPress Foundation or WooCommerce, Inc. WP Engine is not endorsed or owned by, or affiliated with, the WordPress Foundation or WooCommerce, Inc.,” the up to date description on the location learn.
The corporate additionally modified its plan names from “Essential WordPress,” “Core WordPress,” and “Enterprise WordPress” to “Essential,” “Core,” and “Enterprise.”
WP Engine mentioned in a press release that it modified these phrases to moot Automattic’s claims.
“We, like the rest of the WordPress community, use the WordPress mark to describe our business. Automattic’s suggestion that WPE needs a license to do that is simply wrong, and reflects a misunderstanding of trademark law. To moot its claimed concerns, we have eliminated the few examples Automattic gave in its September 23rd letter to us,” an organization spokesperson advised TechCrunch.
On October 1, the corporate posted on X that it has efficiently deployed its personal answer for updating plug-ins and themes.
On October 15, TechCrunch reported that Automattic deliberate to outline logos since early this 12 months involving “nice and not nice” attorneys, based on an inside weblog publish written by the corporate’s then-chief authorized officer. The publish additionally talked about a technique to file extra logos, which the muse ultimately did in July.
On December 10, the courtroom granted a preliminary injunction to WP Engine. The courtroom ordered Automattic and Mullenweg to revive WP Engine’s entry to WordPress.org, take away the login test mark for builders the place they should declare in the event that they have been affiliated with WP Engine, and likewise restore WP Engine’s entry to Superior Customized Fields (ACF) plug-in.
The WordPress neighborhood and different initiatives really feel this might additionally occur to them and need clarification from Automattic, which has an unique license to the WordPress trademark. The neighborhood can be asking about clear steerage round how they’ll and might’t use “WordPress.”
The WordPress Basis, which owns the trademark, has additionally filed to trademark “Managed WordPress” and “Hosted WordPress.” Builders and suppliers are anxious that if these logos are granted, they might be used towards them.
Builders have expressed considerations over counting on industrial open supply merchandise associated to WordPress, particularly when their entry can go away rapidly.
Open supply content material administration system Ghost’s founder John O’Nolan additionally weighed in on the problem and criticized management of WordPress being with one individual.
“The web needs more independent organizations, and it needs more diversity. 40% of the web and 80% of the CMS market should not be controlled by any one individual,” he mentioned in an X publish.
On October 9, net app growth framework Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson opined that Automattic is violating ideas of open supply software program by asking WP Engine to pay 8% of its revenues.
“Automattic is completely out of line, and the potential damage to the open source world extends far beyond WordPress. Don’t let the drama or its characters distract you from that threat,” he mentioned in a weblog publish.
On the identical day, Mullenweg added a brand new checkbox to the WordPress.org contributor login, asking individuals to confirm that they don’t seem to be related to WP Engine in any method. This transfer was criticized by the contributor neighborhood. Some contributors mentioned that they have been banned from the neighborhood Slack for opposing the transfer.
In response, WP Engine mentioned that its clients, companies, customers, and the neighborhood as a complete should not the corporate’s associates.
On October 12, WordPress.org took management of ACF (Superior Customized Fields) plug-in — which makes it simpler for WordPress builders so as to add personalized fields on the edit display screen — which was maintained by WP Engine. As WP Engine misplaced management of the open supply plug-in repository, the Silver Lake-backed firm wasn’t capable of replace the plug-in. WordPress.org and Mullenweg mentioned that plug-in tips enable the group to take this step.
On October 28, WordPress allegedly requested organizers of WordCamp Sydney, a neighborhood occasion, to take away posts speaking about WP Engine. Plus, Automattic additionally requested organizers internationally to share social media account credentials for “safe storage of future events,” based on leaked letters posted on X.
On November 7, Automattic created a brand new web page referred to as WP Engine Tracker to indicate what number of web sites have switched from WP Engine to a different internet hosting supplier. As a part of the injunction, Automattic was directed to take away particular consumer data from the tracker by the courtroom.
In December, former Yoast CEO Joost de Valk recommended a “Federated” method to WordPress.org, so there is no such thing as a central management. Enterprise net consulting agency Crowd Favourite’s CEO Karim Marucchi additionally supported the motion through a separate weblog publish.
In January 2025, Mullenweg introduced that Automattic would scale back its contribution to the 5 For the Future venture to match WP Engine’s contribution of 45 hours per week. What’s extra, he mentioned that Automattic will allocate sources to develop its personal product and ongoing authorized battle with WP Engine.
Later, the WordPress co-creator additionally blocked the WordPress.org accounts of many contributors, together with de Stroll and Marucchi, over alleged plans of a WordPress fork. Nonetheless, de Valk advised TechCrunch that the duo hasn’t been planning a fork.
WP Engine lawsuit
On October 3, WP Engine sued Automattic and Mullenweg over abuse of energy in a courtroom in California. The internet hosting firm additionally alleged that Automattic and Mullenweg didn’t maintain their guarantees to run WordPress open supply initiatives with none constraints and giving builders the liberty to construct, run, modify, and redistribute the software program.
“Matt Mullenweg’s conduct over the last ten days has exposed significant conflicts of interest and governance issues that, if left unchecked, threaten to destroy that trust. WP Engine has no choice but to pursue these claims to protect its people, agency partners, customers, and the broader WordPress community,” the corporate mentioned in a press release to TechCrunch.
The lawsuit additionally notes alleged texts from Mullenweg about doubtlessly hiring WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner. In a touch upon Hacker Information, Mullenweg mentioned that Brunner wished to be an government director of WordPress.org.
In response, Automattic referred to as this case meritless.
“I stayed up last night reading WP Engine’s Complaint, trying to find any merit anywhere to it. The whole thing is meritless, and we look forward to the federal court’s consideration of their lawsuit,” the corporate’s authorized consultant, Neal Katyal, mentioned in a weblog publish.
On October 18, WP Engine filed an injunction in a California courtroom, asking the decide to revive its entry to WordPress.org. A day later, the corporate filed an administrative movement requesting the courtroom to shorten the time to listen to its earlier preliminary injunction.
Mullenweg and staff opposed expedited listening to in a courtroom doc filed on October 21. They argued that the case isn’t about WP Engine’s entry to WordPress, as the corporate already has entry to “https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress” and so they can select to make use of it in any method.
“Rather than being about access to WordPress software, this case instead is about WordPress.org – a website owned and run by Defendant Matt Mullenweg individually, for the benefit of the community he loves,” the submitting reads.
“WordPress.org is not WordPress. WordPress.org is not Automattic or the WordPress Foundation, and is not controlled by either. To the contrary, as Plaintiff itself acknowledges, WordPress.org is Mr. Mullenweg’s responsibility.”
On October 23, Choose Araceli Martinez-Olguin mentioned the primary listening to for main injunction will happen on November 26 until there may be an opposition.
On October 30, Mullenweg and Automattic filed a movement to dismiss key accusations made by WP Engine on the idea that the corporate is accountable for harming itself.
“Despite its own (mis)conduct, WP Engine’s Complaint now asks this Court to compel Matt to provide various resources and support to private equity-backed WP Engine for free, in the absence of any contract, agreement, or promise to do so,” the courtroom doc learn.
In reply, WP Engine filed a doc citing Mullenweg’s feedback on the TC Disrupt stage about how a lot enterprise WP Engine misplaced.
Automattic exodus
On October 3, 159 Automattic staff who didn’t agree with Mullenweg’s course of the corporate and WordPress total took a severance bundle and left the corporate. Virtually 80% of people that left labored in Automattic’s Ecosystem / WordPress division.
On October 8, WordPress mentioned that Mary Hubbard, who was TikTok U.S.’s head of governance and expertise, might be beginning as government director. This publish was beforehand held by Josepha Haden Chomphosy, who was one of many 159 individuals leaving Automattic. A day previous to this, one of many engineers from WP Engine introduced that he was becoming a member of Automattic.
On October 12, Mullenweg wrote in a publish that each working Automattic worker would get 200 A12 shares as a token of gratitude. These shares are a particular class for Automattic staff that they’ll promote after one 12 months and don’t have an expiry date.
On October 17, Mullenweg posted one other alignment supply on Automattic’s Slack channels — with a four-hour response window — with a nine-month severance. Nonetheless, if any individual took the supply, they’d additionally lose entry to the WordPress.org neighborhood, Mullenweg mentioned.
You possibly can contact this reporter at im@ivanmehta.com or on Sign: @ivan.42
