The world of WordPress websiteswhich powers more than 40 % of the world's websites, is in turmoil. At the center of the conflict are two major players in the ecosystem: Matt Mullenwegfounder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, and WP Engineone of the leading hosting companies for WordPress.
This confrontation, which has taken on legal proportions, raises crucial questions about control of the WordPress brand, open source, and the governance of one of the web's most influential projects. Here's a detailed analysis of the case and what's at stake.
Background: WordPress and WP Engine
WordPress and Automattic: a complex relationship
WordPress websiteslaunched in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little, is open source software for creating and managing websites. It's free to use, and enjoys the support of a large community of developers who contribute to its continuous improvement. However, the project's governance relies heavily on Automatticthe company founded by Mullenweg. Automattic manages WordPress.com and other popular products such as WooCommerce and Jetpack.
Although WordPress is open source, Automattic owns a exclusive license for the use of the WordPress websitesThis gives the company a central role in the ecosystem. This includes protecting the brand against perceived misuse or deception.
WP Engine: a major player in WordPress hosting
On his side, WP Engine is one of the largest hosting services specializing in WordPress. The company offers hosting solutions optimized for WordPress, making it easy for millions of users to manage their websites. It has experienced rapid growth, attracting leading investors such as Silver Lake.
However, WP Engine is not directly affiliated with Automattic nor to the WordPress Foundationeven though its name and business model are closely linked to WordPress.
The Beginning of the Conflict: Mullenweg vs WP Engine
In September 2024, Matt Mullenweg published a blog post in which he openly criticized WP Engine, calling the company a "cancer for WordPress. It criticized WP Engine for disabling the article revision history feature by default, a practice which, in its view, compromised the user data protection.
Mullenweg also denounced WP Engine's use of the "WP"We felt that this was confusing users, leading them to believe that WP Engine was part of WordPress or had an official link with the WordPress Foundation.
WP Engine's reaction
In response to these accusations, WP Engine sent out a cease and desist letter to Mullenweg and Automattic, demanding that they withdraw their statements. WP Engine defended its use of the "WP" trademark, claiming that it was a matter of fair use of the name, in accordance with trademark law. The company also accused Mullenweg of threatening to adopt a "nuclear approach against WP Engine unless it agrees to pay a substantial royalty for the use of the WordPress trademark.
Legal escalation: cease-fires and counter-attacks
In response to WP Engine's letter, Automattic issued its own cease and desist letter, claiming that WP Engine violated the rules for use of the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks.
The conflict reached a new climax when Mullenweg has taken the radical decision to ban WP Engine from WordPress.org resources. This ban blocked WP Engine-hosted sites from accessing plugin and theme updates, exposing many sites to security risks. This measure has been widely criticized within the WordPress community, as it has left small businesses and independent sites without a viable solution.
WP Engine denounced this decision, accusing Mullenweg ofabuse of power and endanger the entire WordPress ecosystem.
Repercussions for the WordPress community
Users taken hostage
The interruption of WP Engine services has had a major impact on many users. Although WordPress plugins and themes are licensed open source, hosting providers like WP Engine have to manage infrastructures so that their customers can use them. The temporary ban revealed the fragility of certain technical dependencies and highlighted the importance of a balanced management of open source resources.
However, Mullenweg asserted that conflict was strictly linked to trademark issues and not to the overall management of WordPress. The ban was temporarily lifted at the end of September, but the incident sowed doubts in the community.
Automattic too dominant?
More and more voices are being raised to question Automattic's dominant position in WordPress management. John O'Nolanfounder of the open source CMS Ghostcriticized the excessive centralization around Matt Mullenweg, asserting that "40 % of the web should not be controlled by one person".
On his side, David Heinemeier Hanssoncreator of Ruby on Railshas accused Automattic of betraying the principles of open source by requiring WP Engine to return 8 % of its revenues. For him, this practice could have repercussions far beyond WordPress, threatening the entire open source community.
Legal and commercial implications
On October 3, 2024, WP Engine decided to go on the offensive by filing a complaint against Automattic and Mullenweg for abuse of power and anti-competitive practices. WP Engine accuses Automattic of failing to respect its commitments to open source and of harming the interests of developers and users.
This case is still ongoing, but it could have far-reaching far-reaching consequences on how open source brands and projects like WordPress will be managed in the future.
A special message when you log on to WordPress.org
When logging in to the WordPress.org forums, a new checkbox appears:
✅ I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way, financially or otherwise.
Unusual message that prompted me to look this up and discover this case.
Questions raised for WordPress
This mainly affects two large American companies that are exploiting WordPress commercially (in models that are, in my opinion, too modified from the original version of WordPress). The original version of WP is truly free, and you can host it wherever you like (and hopefully, you'll choose a host that's as free as possible). LRob hosting).
For the time being, independent web hosts such as LRob are totally unaffected by this conflict. There are no alarm bells ringing for us, even if we remain vigilant.
In any case, this conflict underlines tensions possible when managing a large-scale open source project. While WordPress remains an essential technology for millions of sites, the debate surrounding the brand ownershipthe governance and theopen source ethicsraises a number of questions.
In particular: how far can open source remain free when it is closely linked to massive commercial interests?
Source: techcrunch.com
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