This story has been updated throughout with more details as the story has developed. We will continue to do so as the case and dispute are ongoing.
The world of WordPress, one of the most popular technologies for creating and hosting websites, is going through a very heated controversy. The core issue is the fight between WordPress founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine, which hosts websites built on WordPress.
WordPress technology is open source and free, and it powers a huge chunk of the internet — around 40% of websites. Websites can host their own WordPress instance or use a solution provider like Automattic or WP Engine for a plug-and-play solution.
In mid-September, Mullenweg wrote a blog post calling WP Engine a “cancer to WordPress.” He criticized the host for disabling the ability for users to see and track the revision history for every post. Mullenweg believes this feature is at the “core of the user promise of protecting your data” and said that WP Engine turns it off by default to save money.
He also called out WP Engine investor Silver Lake and said they don’t contribute sufficiently to the open source project and that WP Engine’s use of the “WP” brand has confused customers into believing it is part of WordPress.
The legal battle
In reply, WP Engine sent a cease-and-desist letter to Mullenweg and Automattic, asking them to withdraw their comments. It also said that its use of the WordPress trademark was covered under fair use.
The company claimed that Mullenweg had said he would take a “scorched earth nuclear approach” against WP Engine unless it agreed to pay “a significant percentage of its revenues for a license to the WordPress trademark.”
In response, Automattic sent its own cease-and-desist letter to WP Engine, saying that they had breached WordPress and WooCommerce trademark usage rules.
The WordPress Foundation also changed its Trademark Policy page and called out WP Engine, alleging the hosting service has confused users.
“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 officially associated with WordPress, which it’s not. They have never once even donated to the WordPress Foundation, despite making billions of revenue on top of WordPress,” the updated page reads.
WP Engine ban and trademark battle
Mullenweg then banned WP Engine from accessing the resources of WordPress.org. While elements like plug-ins and themes are under open source license, providers like WP Engine have to run a service to fetch them, which is not covered under the open source license.
This broke a lot of websites and prevented them from updating plug-ins and themes. It also left some of them open to security attacks. The community was not pleased with this approach of leaving small websites helpless.
In response to the incident, WP Engine said in a post that Mullenweg had misused his control of WordPress to interfere with WP Engine customers’ access 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 said.
https://twitter.com/wpengine/status/1839246341660119287
On September 27, WordPress.org lifted the ban temporarily, allowing WP Engine to access resources until October 1.
Mullenweg wrote a blog post clarifying that the fight is only against WP Engine over trademarks. He said Automattic has been trying to broker a trademark licensing deal for a long time, but WP Engine’s only response has been to “string us along.”
On September 30, a day before the WordPress.org deadline for the ban on WP Engine, the hosting company updated its site’s footer to clarify it is not directly affiliated with the WordPress Foundation or owns the WordPress trade.
“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 updated description on the site read.
The company also changed its plan names from “Essential WordPress,” “Core WordPress,” and “Enterprise WordPress” to “Essential,” “Core,” and “Enterprise.”
WP Engine said in a statement that it changed these terms 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,” a company spokesperson told TechCrunch.
On October 1, the company posted on X that it has successfully deployed its own solution for updating plug-ins and themes.
https://twitter.com/wpengine/status/1840910240801316924
On October 15, TechCrunch reported that Automattic planned to define trademarks since early this year involving “nice and note nice” lawyers, according to an internal blog post written by the company’s then chief legal officer. The post also mentioned a strategy to file more trademarks, which the foundation eventually did in July.
Community Impact
The WordPress community and other projects feel this could also happen to them and want clarification from Automattic, which has an exclusive license to the WordPress trademark. The community is also asking about clear guidance around how they can and can’t use “WordPress.”
The WordPress Foundation, which owns the trademark, has also filed to trademark “Managed WordPress” and “Hosted WordPress.” Developers and providers are worried that if these trademarks are granted, they could be used against them.
Developers have expressed concerns over relying on commercial open source products related to WordPress, especially when their access can go away quickly.
Open source content management system Ghost’s founder John O’Nolan also weighed in on the issue and criticized control of WordPress being with one person.
“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 said in an X post.
On October 9, web app development framework Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson opined that Automattic is violating principals of open source software 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 the WordPress. Don’t let the drama or its characters distract you from that threat,” he said in a blog post.
On the same day, Mullenweg added a new checkbox to the WordPress.org contributor login, asking people to verify that they are not associated with WP Engine in any way. This move was criticized by the contributor community. Some contributors said that they were banned from the community Slack for opposing the move.
Image Credits:WordPress.org In response, WP Engine said that its customers, agencies, users, and the community as a whole are not the company’s associates.
https://twitter.com/wpengine/status/1844078545603092691
On October 12, WordPress.org took control of ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) plug-in — which makes it easier for WordPress developers to add customized fields on the edit screen — which was maintained by WP Engine. As WP Engine lost control of the open source plug-in repository, the Silver Lake-backed company wasn’t able to update the plug-in. WordPress.org and Mullenweg said that plug-in guidelines allow the organization to take this step.
On October 28, WordPress allegedly asked organizers of WordCamp Sydney, a community event, to remove posts talking about WP Engine. Plus, Automattic also asked organizers across the world to share social media account credentials for “safe storage of future events,” according to leaked letters posted on X.
WP Engine lawsuit
On October 3, WP Engine sued Automattic and Mullenweg over abuse of power in a court in California. The hosting company also alleged that Automattic and Mullenweg didn’t keep their promises to run WordPress open source projects without any constraints and giving developers the freedom to build, run, modify, and redistribute the software.
“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 company said in a statement to TechCrunch.
The lawsuit also notes alleged texts from Mullenweg about potentially hiring WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner. In a comment on Hacker News, Mullenweg said that Brunner wanted to be an executive director of WordPress.org.
In response, Automattic called 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 company’s legal representative, Neal Katyal, said in a blog post.
On October 18, WP Engine filed an injunction in a California court, asking the judge to restore its access to WordPress.org. A day later, the company filed an administrative motion requesting the court to shorten the time to hear its earlier preliminary injunction.
Mullenweg and team opposed expedited hearing in a court document filed on October 21. They argued that the case is not about WP Engine’s access to WordPress, as the company already has access to “https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress” and they can choose to use it in any way.
“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 filing 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, Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin said the first hearing for primary injunction will take place on November 26 unless there is an opposition.
Automattic exodus
On October 3, 159 Automattic employees who didn’t agree with Mullenweg’s direction of the company and WordPress overall took a severance package and left the company. Almost 80% of people who left worked in Automattic’s Ecosystem / WordPress division.
On October 8, WordPress said that Mary Hubbard, who was TikTok U.S.’s head of governance and experience, will be starting as executive director. This post was previously held by Josepha Haden Chomphosy, who was one of the 159 people leaving Automattic. A day prior to this, one of the engineers from WP Engine announced that he was joining Automattic.
On October 12, Mullenweg wrote in a post that every working Automattic employee would get 200 A12 shares as a token of gratitude. These shares are a special class for Automattic employees that they can sell after one year and don’t have an expiry date.
On October 17, Mullenweg posted another alignment offer on Automattic Slack — with just a four-hour response window — with a nine-month severance. However, if any person took the offer, they would also lose access to the WordPress.org community, Mullenweg said.
You can contact this reporter at im@ivanmehta.com or on Signal: @ivan.42