The WP Engine webhosting service is suing WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and his firm Automattic. This follows a public feud over the WordPress trademark. The federal lawsuit accuses Mullenweg of “abuse of energy, extortion and greed.”
That is the newest volley in an ongoing battle between WordPress and WP Engine, but it surely requires a bit of background. WordPress is the backend that powers a big chunk of the web, round 40 % of internet sites. Customers can construct an internet site from the bottom up utilizing WordPress or go for a neater plug-and-play resolution supplied by third-party suppliers like WP Engine.
Mullenweg, who runs his personal supplier referred to as Automattic, started loudly criticizing WP Engine again in September, calling it a “most cancers to WordPress.” He mentioned that the third-party supplier’s title has confused prospects into considering it is truly a part of WordPress. He additionally accused WP Engine of turning off sure options to save cash.
WP Engine responded with a cease-and-desist letter and a request to withdraw the aforementioned feedback, according to reporting by TechCrunch. It additionally mentioned that its use of the WordPress trademark was authorized below truthful use. It went on to say that Mullenweg threatened to take a “scorched earth nuclear method” in opposition to WP Engine until it agreed to pay “a major share of its revenues for a license to the WordPress trademark.”
After this, the WordPress Basis changed its Trademark Policy page and accused WP Engine of “by no means as soon as” donating to the open-source arm of the muse, “regardless of making billions of income on high of WordPress.” He went so far as to counsel that WP Engine coated up trademark abuse by modifying web sites.
Among the frantic adjustments @wpengine has been making to their website to cover their trademark abuse embody modifying buyer quotes, with out permission!
I’ve confirmed with @pcrumm he didn’t approve this modification. Journalists ought to ask WPE and others about this. pic.twitter.com/NQOZ0TPDDT
— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) October 3, 2024
Mullenweg additionally banned WP Engine from accessing sure assets, like some plug-ins and themes. WP Engine powers over 200,000 web sites and this transfer allegedly broke a number of them. In response, the corporate wrote that Mullenweg’s “unprecedented and unwarranted motion interferes with the conventional operation of all the WordPress ecosystem, impacting not simply WP Engine and our prospects.”
Matt Mullenweg and Automattic’s self-proclaimed scorched earth marketing campaign in opposition to WP Engine has harmed not simply our firm, however all the WordPress ecosystem. The symbiotic relationship between WordPress, its group and the companies that make investments hundreds of thousands to assist WordPress…
— WP Engine (@wpengine) October 3, 2024
On October 1, WP Engine introduced that it had developed its personal resolution that allowed shoppers to entry the entire lacking themes and plug-ins. It adopted that with at the moment’s lawsuit, which accuses Mullenweg of demanding eight % of the corporate’s month-to-month income as a royalty cost. The go well with additionally alleges that Mullenweg and Automattic participated in libel, slander, violations of the Pc Fraud and Abuse Act and IRS fraud.
“Matt Mullenweg’s conduct during the last ten days has uncovered important conflicts of curiosity and governance points that, if left unchecked, threaten to destroy that belief,” WP Engine mentioned in a press release. “WP Engine has no selection however to pursue these claims to guard its individuals, company companions, prospects and the broader WordPress group.” Mullenweg and Automattic have but to reply to at the moment’s developments.
This text comprises affiliate hyperlinks; when you click on such a hyperlink and make a purchase order, we could earn a fee.
Trending Merchandise
