The brouhaha within the WordPress neighborhood appears prone to escalate right into a authorized battle round logos.
Only a day after WordPress internet hosting service WP Engine despatched a cease-and-desist discover to Automattic asking its CEO to cease publicly trashing WP Engine, now Automattic has despatched its personal cease-and-desist letter to WP Engine, saying the latter has infringed a number of logos like WordPress and WooCommerce.
This comes after Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic and co-creator of WordPress, final week criticized WP Engine for profiteering off the open-source WordPress mission, referred to as it a “most cancers to WordPress,” and accused the corporate of contributing little or no to the neighborhood.
In its letter dated Monday, Automattic alleged that WP Engine has constructed a enterprise of over $400 million in income based mostly on unauthorized use of its WordPress trademark, which Automattic claims it has the unique business rights for from the WordPress Basis. Automattic additionally mentioned WP Engine has misled shoppers into believing that there’s a direct affliction between the 2 firms.
“Your unauthorized use of our Consumer’s logos infringes on their rights and dilutes their well-known and well-known marks. Damaging opinions and feedback concerning WP Engine and its choices are imputed to our Consumer, thereby tarnishing our Consumer’s manufacturers, harming their status, and damaging the goodwill our Consumer has established in its marks,” the letter learn.
“Your unauthorized use of our Consumer’s mental property has enabled WP Engine to compete with our Consumer unfairly, and has led to unjust enrichment and undue earnings,” it added.
Automattic can also be demanding compensation for the earnings made by WP Engine through the use of its logos, and mentioned that if WP Engine doesn’t amicably remedy the matter, the corporate has the precise to file a civil injunction case.
For context, right here’s a superb abstract of the WordPress neighborhood by my colleague Paul Sawers:
WordPress powers greater than 40% of the net, and whereas any particular person or firm is free to take the open supply mission and run a web site themselves, plenty of companies have sprung as much as promote internet hosting companies and technical experience off the again of it. These embody Automattic, which Mullenweg arrange in 2005 to monetize the mission he’d created two years earlier; and WP Engine, a managed WordPress internet hosting supplier that has raised almost $300 million in funding over its 14-year historical past, the majority of which got here by way of a $250 million funding from personal fairness agency Silver Lake in 2018.
Within the cease-and-desist letter WP Engine despatched to Automattic on Monday, the corporate defended its proper to make use of the “WordPress” trademark underneath truthful use legal guidelines. The corporate added that Automattic has “a profound misunderstanding of each trademark legislation and WordPress Basis’s trademark coverage.”
It additionally mentioned Mullenweg demanded WP Engine pay Automattic “a big share of its gross revenues — tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} actually — on an ongoing foundation” for a license to make use of logos like “WordPress.”
“When his outrageous monetary calls for weren’t met, Mr. Mullenweg carried out his threats by making repeated false claims disparaging WP Engine to its staff, its clients, and the world,” WP Engine’s letter mentioned.
Notably, Automattic’s letter doesn’t point out Mullenweg’s remarks about WP Engine.
Within the final week, Mullenweg has accused WP Engine of not contributing sufficient to the neighborhood and providing “an inexpensive knock-off” model of WordPress. WP Engine pushed again in opposition to this characterization and referred to as out Mullenweg for launching a smear marketing campaign in opposition to the corporate, saying it has already affected a few of its enterprise.
This is perhaps the beginning of an extended authorized tussle between the 2 entities. Lots of of us additionally identified that this battle is perhaps dangerous for suppliers providing specialised WordPress internet hosting.
