The WordPress vs. WP Engine drama, defined

This story has been up to date all through with extra particulars because the story has developed. We are going to proceed to take action because the case and dispute are ongoing.

The world of WordPress, some of the standard applied sciences for creating and internet hosting web sites, goes by way of a really heated controversy. The core concern is the battle between WordPress founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine, which hosts web sites constructed on WordPress.

WordPress expertise is open supply and free, and it powers an enormous chunk of the web — round 40% of internet sites. Web sites can host their very own WordPress occasion or use an answer supplier like Automattic or WP Engine for a plug-and-play answer.

In mid-September, Mullenweg wrote a weblog put up calling WP Engine a “cancer to WordPress.” He criticized the host for disabling the flexibility for customers to see and monitor the revision historical past for each put up. Mullenweg believes this function is on the “core of the user promise of protecting your data” and mentioned that WP Engine turns it off by default to save cash.

He additionally known as out WP Engine investor Silver Lake and mentioned they don’t contribute sufficiently to the open supply challenge and that WP Engine’s use of the “WP” model has confused prospects into believing it’s a part of WordPress.

The authorized battle

In reply, WP Engine despatched a cease-and-desist letter to Mullenweg and Automattic, asking them to withdraw their feedback. It additionally mentioned that its use of the WordPress trademark was coated below truthful use.

In response, Automattic despatched its personal cease-and-desist letter to WP Engine, saying that they’d breached WordPress and WooCommerce trademark utilization guidelines.

The WordPress Basis additionally modified its Trademark Coverage web page and known as out WP Engine, alleging the internet hosting service has confused customers.

“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 up to date web page reads.

WP Engine ban and trademark battle

Mullenweg then banned WP Engine from accessing the sources of WordPress.org. Whereas components like plug-ins and themes are below open supply license, suppliers like WP Engine should run a service to fetch them, which isn’t coated below the open supply license.

This broke a number of web sites and prevented them from updating plug-ins and themes. It additionally left a few of them open to safety assaults. The neighborhood was not happy with this method of leaving small web sites helpless.

In response to the incident, WP Engine mentioned in a put up that Mullenweg had misused his management of WordPress to intrude with WP Engine prospects’ entry 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 mentioned.

On September 27, WordPress.org lifted the ban quickly, permitting WP Engine to entry sources till October 1.

Mullenweg wrote a weblog put up clarifying that the battle is barely towards WP Engine over emblems. He mentioned Automattic has been making an attempt to dealer a trademark licensing deal for a very long time, however WP Engine’s solely response has been to “string us along.”

On September 30, a day earlier than the WordPress.org deadline for the ban on WP Engine, the internet hosting firm up to date its website’s footer to make clear it isn’t immediately affiliated with the WordPress Basis or owns the WordPress commerce.

“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 up to date description on the positioning learn.

The corporate additionally modified its plan names from “Essential WordPress,” “Core WordPress,” and “Enterprise WordPress” to “Essential,” “Core,” and “Enterprise.”

WP Engine mentioned in an announcement that it modified these phrases 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,” an organization spokesperson informed TechCrunch.

On October 1, the corporate posted on X that it has efficiently deployed its personal answer for updating plug-ins and themes.

On October 15, TechCrunch reported that Automattic deliberate to outline emblems since early this yr involving “nice and note nice” attorneys, in response to an inner weblog put up written by the corporate’s then chief authorized officer. The put up additionally talked about a method to file extra emblems, which the muse ultimately did in July.

The WordPress neighborhood and different initiatives really feel this might additionally occur to them and wish clarification from Automattic, which has an unique license to the WordPress trademark. The neighborhood can also be asking about clear steerage round how they’ll and may’t use “WordPress.”

The WordPress Basis, which owns the trademark, has additionally filed to trademark “Managed WordPress” and “Hosted WordPress.” Builders and suppliers are fearful that if these emblems are granted, they might be used towards them.

Builders have expressed considerations over counting on industrial open supply merchandise associated to WordPress, particularly when their entry can go away rapidly.

Open supply content material administration system Ghost’s founder John O’Nolan additionally weighed in on the problem and criticized management of WordPress being with one individual.

“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 mentioned in an X put up.

On October 9, internet app improvement framework Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson opined that Automattic is violating principals of open supply software program 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 mentioned in a weblog put up.

On the identical day, Mullenweg added a brand new checkbox to the WordPress.org contributor login, asking folks to confirm that they aren’t related to WP Engine in any approach. This transfer was criticized by the contributor neighborhood. Some contributors mentioned that they have been banned from the neighborhood Slack for opposing the transfer.

In response, WP Engine mentioned that its prospects, companies, customers, and the neighborhood as an entire usually are not the corporate’s associates.

On October 12, WordPress.org took management of ACF (Superior Customized Fields) plug-in — which makes it simpler for WordPress builders so as to add personalized fields on the edit display — which was maintained by WP Engine. As WP Engine misplaced management of the open supply plug-in repository, the Silver Lake-backed firm wasn’t capable of replace the plug-in. WordPress.org and Mullenweg mentioned that plug-in pointers permit the group to take this step.

WP Engine lawsuit and

On October 3, WP Engine sued Automattic and Mullenweg over abuse of energy in a court docket in California. The internet hosting firm additionally alleged that Automattic and Mullenweg didn’t preserve their guarantees to run WordPress open supply initiatives with none constraints and giving builders the liberty to construct, run, modify, and redistribute the software program.

“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 corporate mentioned in an announcement to TechCrunch.

The lawsuit additionally notes alleged texts from Mullenweg about probably hiring WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner. In a touch upon Hacker Information, Mullenweg mentioned that Brunner needed to be an government director of WordPress.org.

In response, Automattic known as 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 corporate’s authorized consultant, Neal Katyal, mentioned in a weblog put up.

On October 18, WP Engine filed an injunction in a California court docket, asking the choose to get its entry to WordPress.org to be restored.

Automattic exodus

On October 3, 159 Automattic staff who didn’t agree with Mullenweg’s path of the corporate and WordPress total took a severance bundle and left the corporate. Nearly 80% of people that left labored in Automattic’s Ecosystem / WordPress division.

On October 8, WordPress mentioned that Mary Hubbard, who was TikTok U.S.’s head of governance and expertise, will probably be beginning as government director. This put up was beforehand held by Josepha Haden Chomphosy, who was one of many 159 folks leaving Automattic. A day previous to this, one of many engineers from WP Engine introduced that he was becoming a member of Automattic.

On October 12, Mullenweg wrote in a put up that each working Automattic worker would get 200 A12 shares as a token of gratitude. These shares are a particular class for Automattic staff that they’ll promote after one yr and don’t have an expiry date.

On October 17, Mullenweg posted one other alignment provide on Automattic Slack — with only a four-hour response window — with a nine-month severance. Nonetheless, if any individual took the provide, they might additionally lose entry to the WordPress.org neighborhood, Mullenweg mentioned.

You may contact this reporter at im@ivanmehta.com or on Sign: @ivan.42