Ars Technica

Automattic demanded web host pay $32M annually for using WordPress trademark

Automattic Inc. and its founder have been sued by a WordPress hosting company that alleges an extortion scheme to extract payments for use of the trademark for the open source WordPress software.
TechSpot

Automattic and WP Engine go to war, the latter gets banned from using WordPress.org resources

A hot potato: The ongoing drama over WordPress and copyright is heating up. Automattic wants WP Engine to pay for using WordPress open-source technology. However, the hosting service demands that the ...
TechCrunch

Internal blog post reveals Automattic’s plan to enforce the WordPress trademark using ‘nice and not nice lawyers’

Matt Mullenweg, the WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO, has been embroiled in a very public and legal fight with WP Engine these last few weeks over the use of WordPress as a trademark and fees ...
Computerworld

WordPress.org statement threatens possible shutdown for all of 2025

The move likely won’t have direct impact on most enterprise users, but indirect impact — which could be just as bad — is a definite possibility. Editor’s note: On Jan. 3, 2025, WordPress.org staff ...
Ars Technica

Automattic demanded web host pay $32M annually for using WordPress trademark

Any disruption at all by wordpress.org to support Automattic is absolutely indefensible. It's supposed to be neutral. It is not. Mullenweg is using wordpress.org in a self-dealing way that will ...