"Web hosting company WP Engine has filed an amended complaint with brow-raising new allegations in its ongoing legal battle with WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and his company Automattic (WordPress.com's parent company). The company now claims that Mullenweg intended to target 10 different hosting companies with royalty payments for their use of the WordPress trademark and tried to get payment processor Stripe to cancel its contract with WP Engine."
"At the heart of the dispute, Mullenweg believes WP Engine is profiting from the open-source WordPress project without contributing back to the community, and demanded the hosting company pay 8% of its monthly gross revenues as a royalty fee for using the WordPress brand. The suit, originally filed by WP Engine in October 2024, accused Automattic and Mullenweg of defamation and abuse of power."
"In this latest filing, WP Engine has amended its complaint for the third time after gaining access to information that was uncovered during the discovery process. The information, now unredacted, had been previously sealed at Automattic's request. Notably, one of the new claims accuses Automattic of allegedly planning to target 10 other competitors with royalty claims similar to those aimed at WP Engine."
"The complaint also states that Newfold, a company whose portfolio includes hosting providers like Bluehost and HostGator, among others, is already paying Automattic for use of its trademarks and that Automattic is in conversations with others. (Names of the other hosts were redacted in the complaint, which referenced email conversations between those companies and Mullenweg.) WP Engine is also alleging that Mullenweg reached out to a Stripe executive via email to pressure the company to cancel WP Engine's contract."
WP Engine amended its complaint adding allegations that Matt Mullenweg and Automattic sought royalty payments from multiple hosting providers and attempted to interfere with WP Engine's payment processing. Mullenweg demanded WP Engine pay 8% of monthly gross revenues for using the WordPress brand, asserting WP Engine profited from the open-source project without contributing back. Automattic previously filed counterclaims alleging trademark abuse and deceptive marketing by WP Engine. The amended filing follows discovery that produced unredacted documents. The complaint alleges Automattic targeted ten other hosts, that Newfold pays Automattic for trademark use, and that Mullenweg contacted Stripe about WP Engine's contract.
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