Subj : WP Engine files lawsuit against WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenw
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Thu Oct 03 2024 12:00:05

WP Engine files lawsuit against WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and 
Automattic

Date:
Thu, 03 Oct 2024 10:52:46 +0000

Description:
Dispute continues to rumble on after Mullenweg called WP Engine a cancer".

FULL STORY
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WP Engine has launched a federal complaint against Automattic and its CEO, 
Matt Mullenweg, following what it says are allegations of extortion and abuse 
of power that fundamentally threaten the open source WordPress community. 

The legal action comes after the CEO and WordPress co-founder referred to WP 
Engine, a rival company to Automattics WordPress.com, as a  cancer  that 
takes from the open-source project without giving back sufficiently. 

The complaint focuses on Mullenwegs failed efforts to get WP Engine to pay 
tens of millions of dollars for a trademark license that it claims is 
unnecessary. WP Engine files federal complaint 

WP Engine claims Mullenwegs public promises of maintaining the WordPress 
project as an open, community-driven platform have been false, adding the CEO 
has taken control over the trademarks to benefit his own for-profit business 
(that benefits from the open-source project) while harming competitors. 

An extract from the complaint reads: The misconduct at issue here is all the 
more shocking because it occurred in an unexpected placethe WordPress open 
source software community built on promises of the freedom to build, run, 
change, and redistribute without barriers or constraints, for all. Those 
promises were not kept, and that community was betrayed, by the wrongful acts 
of a fewMatt Mullenweg and Automatticto the detriment of the many, including 
WPE. 

WP Engine is now seeking legal remedies to protect its company and the 
broader WordPress community from what it describes as Automattics 
monopolistic and damaging practices. 

WP Engine told TechRadar Pro : Matt Mullenweg and Automattics self-proclaimed 
scorched earth campaign against WP Engine has harmed not just our company, 
but the entire WordPress ecosystem. The symbiotic relationship between 
WordPress, its community and the businesses that invest millions to support 
WordPress users, and advance the ecosystem, is based on trust in the promises 
of openness and freedom. Matt Mullenwegs conduct over the last ten days has 
exposed significant conflicts of interests 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. More from TechRadar Pro These are the best 
WordPress hosting providers Check out our roundup of the best free website 
builders WordPress grants WP Engine "reprieve" - but they'll need to be quick



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/wp-engine-files-lawsuit-against-wordpress-co-fou
nder-matt-mullenweg-and-automattic


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