WP Engine website hosting service is suing WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and his firm Automattic. This follows a public spat over the WordPress trademark. The federal lawsuit accuses Mullenweg of “abuse of energy, racketeering and greed.”
That is the newest improvement within the ongoing battle between WordPress and WP Engine, but it surely requires some background. WordPress is the backend that powers many of the net (about 40% of internet sites). Customers can construct a web site from scratch utilizing WordPress, or select less complicated plug-and-play options from third-party suppliers resembling WP Engine.
Mullenweg, who runs his personal vendor Automattic, started vocally criticizing WP Engine as early as September, calling it “the most cancers of WordPress.” He mentioned the identify of the third-party supplier fooled prospects into pondering it was really a part of WordPress. He additionally accused WP Engine of turning off sure options to economize.
WP Engine responded with a cease-and-desist letter and requested that the feedback be retracted, WP Engine reported TechCrunch. It additionally mentioned that its use of the WordPress trademark is authorized underneath honest use. It additionally claims that Mullenweg threatened to take “scorched earth nuclear motion” towards WP Engine until it agreed to pay “a good portion of its income to buy the WordPress trademark license.”
The WordPress Basis has since modified its trademark coverage web page and accused WP Engine of “by no means” donating to the inspiration’s open supply division “regardless of making billions of {dollars} in income on WordPress.” He even recommended that WP Engine edit its web site to cowl up trademark abuse.
some loopy modifications @wpengine All of the whereas hiding their trademark abuse on their web site, together with modifying buyer quotes with out permission!
I’ve confirmed @pcrumm He disagreed with the change. Journalists ought to ask WPE and others about this. pic.twitter.com/NQOZ0TPDDT
— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) October 3, 2024
Mullenweg additionally blocks WP Engine from accessing sure sources, resembling sure plugins and themes. WP Engine powers over 200,000 web sites, and the transfer allegedly broke lots of them. In response, the corporate wrote that Mullenweg’s “unprecedented and unwarranted actions disrupt the traditional functioning of the whole WordPress ecosystem, affecting extra than simply WP Engine and our prospects.”
Matt Mullenweg and Automattic’s self-proclaimed scorched-earth marketing campaign towards WP Engine has harmed not solely our firm, however the whole WordPress ecosystem. The symbiotic relationship between WordPress, its neighborhood, and the businesses investing thousands and thousands of {dollars} to assist WordPress…
— WP Engine (@wpengine) October 3, 2024
On October 1, WP Engine introduced that it had developed its personal resolution to offer shoppers entry to all lacking themes and plugins. Subsequent up is right this moment’s lawsuit, which accuses Mullenweg of demanding 8% of the corporate’s month-to-month income as royalties. The lawsuit additionally accuses Mullenweg and Automattic of participating in defamation, slander, violations of the Pc Fraud and Abuse Act, and IRS fraud.
“Matt Mullenweg’s conduct over the previous ten days uncovered important conflicts of curiosity and governance points that, if left unchecked, might destroy that belief,” WP Engine mentioned in an announcement. “WP Engine has no selection however to can pursue these claims to guard its workers, company companions, prospects, and the broader WordPress neighborhood.” Mullenweg and Automattic have but to reply to right this moment’s developments.
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