SAN FRANCISCO / LONDON (IT BOLTWISE) – Automattic, the developer of WordPress, has filed a countersuit against WP Engine. The company accuses WP Engine of misusing the WordPress trademark and engaging in deceptive marketing practices. These developments follow a lawsuit filed by WP Engine against Automattic in October 2024.
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Automattic, the company behind WordPress, recently filed a countersuit against hosting provider WP Engine. These legal actions follow a lawsuit filed by WP Engine in October 2024, accusing Automattic and its CEO Matt Mullenweg of defamation and abuse of power. Automattic accuses WP Engine of misusing the WordPress trademark and engaging in deceptive marketing practices without adequately contributing to the open source community.
Last year, Automattic had already taken action against WP Engine, calling the company a “cancer for WordPress” and sending a cease-and-desist letter claiming that WP Engine had violated its brand guidelines. Automattic banned WP Engine from accessing resources on WordPress.org and attempted to negotiate a licensing agreement with the hosting provider. Automattic claims that WP Engine negotiated in bad faith.
WP Engine eventually sued Automattic, portraying itself as a victim of Mullenweg’s attacks. According to Automattic, after a $250 million investment from private equity firm Silver Lake, WP Engine began moving from fair use to trademark infringement by calling itself “The WordPress Technology Company” and allowing its partners to use it as Call it “WordPress Engine”.
Automattic highlights that WP Engine has launched products with names like “Core WordPress” and “Headless WordPress” and promised its customers to dedicate 5% of its resources to supporting the WordPress ecosystem. Automattic claims that these promises were never kept. The trademark infringement was intentional because WP Engine only pretended to take part in licensing discussions, but was actually negotiating in bad faith.
Silver Lake plays a central role in the countersuits, which imply that the private equity firm’s interests guided much of WP Engine’s behavior. Specifically, it is alleged that WP Engine committed trademark infringement because paying royalties would adversely affect the company’s profits and valuation, and therefore Silver Lake’s expected returns.
The countersuits also allege that Silver Lake attempted to sell WP Engine at a $2 billion valuation but was unable to find a buyer. Notably, the lawsuit states that this also included “overtures to Automattic.”
Automattic also claims that WP Engine degraded user experience and product quality to cut costs during this time by removing essential features.
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