"On Friday, WordPress-maker Automattic filed its counterclaims in the lawsuit initiated by hosting company WP Engine in October 2024, which had accused Automattic and its CEO Matt Mullenweg of defamation and abuse of power. Automattic believes that WP Engine has been abusing the WordPress trademark and has engaged in deceptive marketing practices, without properly giving back to the open source community."
"As the battle continued, Automattic banned WP Engine from accessing WordPress.org resources and attempted to negotiate a licensing deal with the host. Automattic says that the company strung it along, negotiating in bad faith. WP Engine eventually sued Automattic, portraying itself as the victim of Mullenweg's attacks. But in Automattic's telling of events, after Silver Lake invested $250 million, WP Engine shifted from fair use to trademark infringement by calling itself "The WordPress Technology Company" and letting its partners refer to it as "WordPress Engine.""
"Automattic notes that the hosting company also launched products with names like "Core WordPress" and "Headless WordPress," and claimed to its customers that it had committed 5% of its resources to support the WordPress ecosystem. Automattic says it never kept those promises. In addition, Automattic alleges that the trademark infringement was deliberate and it only "pretended to engage in licensing discussions, but actually delayed and negotiated in bad faith,""
Automattic filed counterclaims against WP Engine accusing the host of abusing the WordPress trademark and engaging in deceptive marketing while failing to contribute to the open source community. Automattic took actions including calling WP Engine a "cancer to WordPress," sending a cease-and-desist, banning access to WordPress.org resources, and seeking a licensing deal it says was negotiated in bad faith. The claims state that after Silver Lake invested $250 million WP Engine shifted from fair use to trademark infringement with names like "The WordPress Technology Company" and "WordPress Engine." Automattic alleges deliberate infringement intended to protect WP Engine's valuation.
Read at TechCrunch
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]