The latest on the WordPress fight over trademarks and open source

Feb 27, 2025 05:36 AM - 1 month ago 70833

A caller suit alleges Automattic must support WordPress free.
[WP Engine customer Ryan Keller] is hoping a assemblage will work together that Automattic and Mullenweg had a work to support WordPress “free for everyone” but alternatively intentionally interfered pinch WPE’s contracts and prospective business, arsenic good arsenic violated California’s unfair title law, to extort money retired of WPE.
Matt Mullenweg lashes retired astatine immoderate WordPress contributors.
Mullenweg wrote successful a blog station today that he had deactivated the WordPress.org accounts of respective contributors, including 2 — Joost de Valk and Karim Marucchi — who person plans for a caller WordPress fork, reports TechCrunch.
Automattic cuts WordPress publication hours, blames WP Engine
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Automattic, the institution that runs WordPress.com, is scaling backmost its contributions to the WordPress open-source project, according to an announcement connected Thursday. The institution says it’s decreasing contributions to “match” the magnitude of clip companies for illustration WP Engine walk connected the ecosystem, further escalating the hostility betwixt Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg and the community.
Now, alternatively of spending 3,988 hours per week processing the WordPress project, Automattic says it will now lend astir 45 hours arsenic portion of Five for the Future — a programme that encourages companies to springiness backmost 5 percent of their resources to WordPress.org. “These hours will apt spell towards information and captious updates,” Automattic says.
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Matt Mullenweg says it’s “hard to imagine” wanting to activity connected WordPress aft WP Engine ruling.
The WordPress co-founder posted the connection successful a Slack organization and changed his username to “gone 💀” aft a judge granted WP Engine’s preliminary injunction, 404 Media reports:
I’m sick and disgusted to beryllium legally compelled to supply free labour to an statement arsenic parasitic and exploitive arsenic WP Engine. I dream you each get what you and WP Engine wanted.
WordPress genitor institution must extremity blocking WP Engine, judge rules
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
WordPress.com’s proprietor launched a locator for sites leaving WP Engine.
As spotted by @DuaneStorey connected X, the “WP Engine Tracker” says much than 16,000 sites stopped utilizing WP Engine since precocious September, which is erstwhile WordPress.com genitor institution Automattic started its nationalist campaign against the third-party hosting service.
Meanwhile, Automattic’s consequence to WP Engine’s lawsuit claimed the institution “failed to plausibly allege circumstantial financial harm.”
Screenshot: The Verge
WordPress cofounder asks tribunal to disregard WP Engine’s lawsuit
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
WordPress cofounder Matt Mullenweg and his institution Automattic person asked a tribunal to disregard WP Engine’s suit accusing them of libel and extortion. In a filing connected Wednesday, Mullenweg argues that WP Engine is conjuring claims “out of ineligible bladed air,” while alleging it continues to usage the WordPress trademark “in unauthorized ways.”
Earlier this month, the third-party WordPress hosting work WP Engine revenge a suit against Automattic and Mullenweg aft the executive embarked connected a “scorched world nuclear” campaign against it. In summation to accusing WP Engine of trademark infringement, Mullenweg claimed the work doesn’t lend capable to the open-source WordPress.org project, which Mullenweg besides controls. WordPress.org besides trim disconnected WP Engine’s entree to its resources and later took complete 1 of its astir celebrated plugins.
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WordPress reportedly asks WordCamp organizers to delete posts that “don’t align” pinch its views.
Screenshots shared connected X show emails from WordPress.com genitor institution Automattic asking the owners of WordCamp Sydney — a community-organized WordPress convention — to region posts related to WP Engine.
Meanwhile, a abstracted email from the institution requests that arena organizers stock “all progressive societal media accounts” login credentials pinch Automattic to guarantee “safe retention for each early events.”
“WordPress.org is not WordPress.”
The attorneys for WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg make that very clear successful a ineligible consequence to WP Engine’s lawsuit. The consequence besides blames WP Engine for relying connected WordPress.org, “a website owned and tally by Defendant Matt Mullenweg individually:”
WP Engine, a backstage equity-backed company, made the unilateral decision, astatine its ain risk, to build a multi-billion dollar business astir Mr. Mullenweg’s website. In doing so, WP Engine gambled for the liking of profit that Mr. Mullenweg would proceed to support unfastened entree to his website for free. That was their choice.
WP Engine asks tribunal to extremity Matt Mullenweg from blocking entree to WordPress resources
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
WP Engine is asking a tribunal to put a extremity to Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg’s nationalist run against the company. In a mobility for a preliminary injunction revenge against Automattic and Mullenweg connected Friday, the third-party hosting level requests that the tribunal reconstruct its entree to WordPress resources and let it to regain power of its plugin that had been taken over.
In the filing, WP Engine claims it’s facing “multiple forms of contiguous irreparable harm” arsenic a consequence of Mullenweg and Automattic’s actions, including “loss of customers, marketplace stock and goodwill.” The institution besides says it saw a 14 percent summation successful cancellation requests from September 26th to the 30th — conscionable days aft Mullenweg called WP Engine a “cancer” to the WordPress community.
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Automattic offered labor different chance to discontinue complete WordPress drama
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg offered a 2nd buyout information to labor who don’t work together pinch his actions, according to a study from 404 Media. In a connection to labor seen by the outlet, Mullenweg gave labor until October 17th to determine whether they would resign successful speech for 9 months of pay.
“New alignment offer: I conjecture immoderate group were sad they missed the past window. Some person been leaking to the property and ex-employees,” Mullenweg wrote successful the connection seen by 404 Media. “You person until 00:00 UTC Oct 17 (-4 hours) to DM maine the words, ‘I resign and would for illustration to return the 9-month buy-out offer’ You don’t person to opportunity immoderate reason, aliases thing else. I will reply ‘Thank you.’ Automattic will judge your resignation.”
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Matt Mullenweg responds to David Heinemeier Hansson successful their “respectful debate.”
David, possibly it would beryllium bully to research pinch a therapist aliases coach why you support having these awesome ideas but cannot standard them beyond a fistful of niche customers. I will springiness afloat in installments and respect. 37signals inspired tons of what Automattic does! We’re now half a cardinal successful revenue. Why are you still truthful small?
DHH posted connected X in reply: “Maybe I’m expected to get huffy astatine this, but alternatively I conscionable get sad.”
Update: Added archive nexus to deleted blog post.
WordPress.org’s latest move involves taking power of a WP Engine plugin
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
WordPress.org has taken complete a celebrated WP Engine plugin successful bid “to region commercialized upsells and hole a information problem,” WordPress cofounder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg announced today. This “minimal” update, which he labels a fork of the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin, is now called “Secure Custom Fields.”
It’s not clear what information problem Mullenweg is referring to successful the post. He writes that he’s “invoking constituent 18 of the plugin directory guidelines,” in which the WordPress squad reserves respective rights, including removing a plugin, aliases changing it “without developer consent.” Mullenweg explains that the move has to do pinch WP Engine’s recently-filed lawsuit against him and Automattic.
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“Automattic is wholly retired of line, and the imaginable harm to the unfastened root world extends acold beyond WordPress,”
writes David Heinemeier Hansson, the CTO astatine 37signals and creator of the open-source model Ruby connected Rails.
DHH says it “occasionally irks” him to spot companies failing to lend to Ruby connected Rails, but that’s the rules:
None of the awesome licenses, however, opportunity thing adjacent to “it’s free but only until the task owners deem you excessively successful and past you’ll person to salary 8% of your revenues to support the project”. That’s a wholly bonkers and arbitrary modular based successful the norm of spite, not law.
The latest volley successful the WordPress beef:
WordPress.org’s contributor login page now requires users to certify that they are “not affiliated pinch WP Engine successful immoderate way, financially aliases otherwise.” 404 Media spotted the caller checkbox.
Matt Mullenweg: ‘WordPress.org conscionable belongs to me’
Over the past respective weeks, WordPress cofounder Matt Mullenweg has made 1 point exceedingly clear: he’s successful complaint of WordPress’ future.
Mullenweg heads up WordPress.com and its genitor company, Automattic. He owns the WordPress.org project, and he moreover leads the nonprofit instauration that controls the WordPress trademark. To the extracurricular observer, these mightiness look to beryllium independent organizations, each separately designed astir the WordPress open-source project. But arsenic he wages a conflict against WP Engine, a third-party WordPress hosting service, Mullenweg has muddied the boundaries betwixt 3 basal entities that lead a sprawling ecosystem powering almost half of the web.
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WordPress cofounder is paying labor to time off if they disagree pinch him
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg offered labor $30,000, aliases six months of net (whichever is higher), to time off the institution if they didn’t work together pinch his conflict against WP Engine. In an update connected Thursday night, Mullenweg said 159 people, making up 8.4 percent of the company, took the offer.
Automattic, which is successful complaint of WordPress.com and its commercialized services, has been progressive successful a nationalist conflict pinch WP Engine aft Mullenweg called the third-party hosting work a “cancer” to the WordPress organization and banned it from accessing WordPress.org.
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The ‘WordPress’ conflict is now a lawsuit
The WP Engine web hosting work is suing WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and Automattic for alleged libel and attempted extortion, pursuing a nationalist spat complete the WordPress trademark and open-source project. In the federal suit revenge connected Wednesday, WP Engine accuses some Automattic and its CEO Mullenweg of “abuse of power, extortion, and greed,” and said it seeks to forestall them from inflicting further harm against WP Engine and the WordPress community.
WP Engine is simply a awesome rival to WordPress.com, pinch much than 200,000 websites utilizing the service. Mullenweg runs Automattic, which owns WordPress.com, a institution that sells a hosted type of the open-source WordPress package — conscionable for illustration WP Engine.
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Automattic demanded a trim of WP Engine’s gross earlier starting WordPress battle
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Automattic, the genitor institution of WordPress.com, asked rival hosting work WP Engine to manus complete 8 percent of its gross each period earlier igniting a very nationalist battle complete what you tin and can’t do pinch an open-source project.
On Wednesday, Automattic published the projected deal that it sent to WP Engine connected September 20th. The connection lays out a seven-year statement that gives WP Engine the correct to usage the WordPress trademark successful speech for a hefty payment. The 8 percent trim could either beryllium paid arsenic a royalty interest to Automattic aliases arsenic salaries for WP Engine labor who would lend to the WordPress.org open-source project.
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The messy WordPress drama, explained
WordPress is fundamentally net infrastructure. It’s wide used, mostly stable, and doesn’t thin to make galore splashy headlines arsenic a result.
But complete the past week, the WordPress organization has swept up into a conflict complete the ethos of the platform. Last week, WordPress cofounder Matt Mullenweg came retired pinch a harsh onslaught connected WP Engine, a awesome WordPress hosting provider, calling the institution a “cancer” to the community. The connection has cracked unfastened a nationalist statement surrounding really profit-driven companies tin and can’t usage open-source package — and if they’re obligated to lend thing to the projects they usage successful return.
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WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg calls WP Engine a “cancer.”
In a station connected his blog, Mullenweg called retired the rival hosting work — which is built connected WordPress — for “strip-mining the WordPress ecosystem” by disabling definite features for illustration revisions. “What WP Engine gives you is not WordPress,” he says.
WP Engine has since responded the post, saying “recent attacks against america are unfair and untrue and intelligibly designed to harm our business.”