After Automattic launched the WP Engine Tracker website to monitor the number of websites departing WP Engine hosting, WP Engine updated its ongoing lawsuit against Automattic and its founder, Matt Mullenweg.
The revised document with 144 pages, opens with strong accusations: “This is a case about abuse of power, extortion, and greed. The misconduct at issue is especially troubling because it took place within the WordPress open-source software community, which was built on promises of freedom to build, run, change, and redistribute without barriers or restrictions. Those promises were betrayed by the wrongful actions of a few defendants, to the detriment of the broader community—including WPE.”
The filing continues: “WPE brings this suit to stop the defendants from further harming WPE, its customer relationships, and the entire WordPress ecosystem, and to hold them accountable for their broken promises and misconduct.”
The document also raises concerns about trademark misuse, alleging that the defendants Automattic & Matt have used their claimed trademark to violate antitrust laws. WP Engine claims to have used the terms “WordPress” and “WooCommerce” without issue since 2010 and 2018, respectively, even with Automattic’s knowledge. In fact, Automattic had invested in WP Engine in 2011 and remained an investor until 2018, and the companies maintained regular communications during that period.
The filing highlights an acknowledgment from Mullenweg years back when he publicly stated that WP Engine’s use of “WP” in its company name is entirely proper and serves as an example for other companies: “We ask you to not use WordPress in your domain name, which we’ve done for four years now. So, use like WP, like there’s WPEngine, call it WPEngine instead of WordPressEngine.com or something like that.”
Further, WP Engine argues that Mullenweg’s statements indicate Automattic’s knowledge of their legitimate use of the WordPress name and suggest