Automattic’s Response to WP Engine Lawsuit Changes the Narrative

Attorneys for Matt Mullenweg and Automattic filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against WP Engine, offering a different perspective on the underlying causes of the dispute.

The motion to dismiss alleges that WP Engine, not Mullenweg and Automattic, is the cause of the damages, alleging that WP Engine forces the defendant to provide resources and support for free and limits Mullenweg’s ability to express its opinion about WP Engine’s practices.

The motion to dismiss begins by accusing WP Engine of selectively choosing recent events as the basis for its complaint. He then fills in the pieces that have been left out since the inception of WordPress over two decades ago, when Matt co-invented a way to build websites that democratized publishing on the web. The statement described how his organization devoted thousands of man-years to growing the platform, eventually reaching a point where it now generates approximately $10 billion a year for thousands of companies and freelancers.

The point of the first part of the submission is to explain that Mullenweg and Automattic support the open source WordPress project because the project depends on a “symbiotic” relationship between the WordPress community and those who are part of it, including web hosts like WP. Engine.

“But the success and viability of WordPress depends on a supportive and symbiotic relationship with members of the WordPress community.”

After establishing what the community is, how it was founded, and Mullenweg’s and Automattic’s role as a strong supporter of the community, he paints a picture of WP Engine as a company that benefits greatly from volunteer work and donated time without properly using it to give back to the community. This is the part that Mullenweg and Automattic consider excluded from WP Engine’s complaint, that Mullenweg was expressing his opinion that WP Engine not only needed to provide more support to the community, and that Mullenweg was responding to the threat posed by plaintiff’s conduct.

The movement explains:

“The WP Engine Plaintiff’s conduct poses a threat to this community. WP Engine is a website hosting service powered by WordPress software and controlled by Silver Lake, a private equity firm that claims more than $100 billion in assets under management.

…In addition to the WordPress software, WP Engine also uses a variety of free resources on the website, and its complaint alleges that access to the website is now apparently critical to its business.”

Finally, the initial part of the petition, which explains the defendant’s position in the dispute, states that the defendant’s conduct was fully within its legal rights, since there is no agreement between WordPress and WP Engine that would guarantee them access to WordPress resources and that WP Engine has repeatedly tried provide access rights.

The document continues:

“But the complaint does not (and cannot) allege that WP Engine has any agreement with Matt (or anyone else for that matter) that gives WP Engine the right to use the website’s resources. The complaint does not (and cannot) allege that WP Engine ever attempted to obtain this right from Matt or anyone else.

Instead, WP Engine used the free resources provided by the website to make hundreds of millions of dollars annually. WP Engine did this by refusing to meaningfully compensate the WordPress community and unfairly trading on the goodwill associated with the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks.”

Allegation of trademark infringement

The motion to dismiss, filed by Mullenweg and Automattic, accuses WP Engine of trademark infringement, a claim that has been at the heart of Mullenweg’s dispute, which the legal response says is a dispute that Mullenweg has sought to resolve amicably in private .

The legal document states:

“In 2021, WP Engine first included the WordPress trademark in its product name, which it called “Headless WordPress,” in violation of that trademark and the express terms of the WordPress Foundation Trademark Policy, which prohibits the use of WordPress trademarks in product names. And over time, WP Engine gradually increased the use and prominence of the WordPress trademark in its marketing materials, eventually using the mark well beyond the recognized boundaries of nominative fair use.”

Which caused a controversy

The defendants claim that WP Engine has benefited from the open source community but has refused to become an active partner in the open source community. The defendants claim that they tried to bring WP Engine into the community as part of a symbiotic relationship, but that WP Engine refused.

The motion to dismiss is interesting because it initially claims that WP Engine did not have an agreement with Automattic to use the WordPress trademark, nor did it have an agreement to access WordPress assets. It goes on to show how the defendants tried to reach an agreement, and that it was WP Engine’s refusal to “reimburse the WordPress community” and settle with Automattic that caused the dispute.

The document explains:

“Matt tried to raise these issues with WP Engine and reach an amicable resolution for the benefit of the community. Privately, Matt also encouraged WP Engine to give back to the ecosystem from which it took so much. Preserving and maintaining the resources available on the Website requires significant effort and investment—effort and investment that Matt is making to benefit those who share a sense of mission. WP Engine is down
accept this mission.

WP Engine and Silver Lake can’t expect to profit at the expense of others without shouldering some of the weight — and that’s all Matt asked of them. For example, Matt suggested that WP Engine either license the WordPress Foundation trademarks or dedicate eight percent of its revenue to the further development of WordPress open source software.”

Mullenweg had two options

The above is what Mullenweg and Automattic say is at the heart of the dispute — WP Engine’s reluctance to reach an agreement with Automattic and become a stronger community partner. The motion to dismiss states that WP Engine’s refusal to reach an agreement left Mullenweg with few options for what to do next, as explained in the motion:

“When it became abundantly clear to Matt that WP Engine was not interested in giving back, Matt was left with two options: (i) continue to allow WP Engine to unfairly use the free website resources, use the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks without permission, which would also endanger himself the existence of those trademarks, and remained silent about the negative impact of his conduct, or (ii) refused to allow WP Engine to do so and publicly demanded that WP Engine do more to support the community.”

Disputes look different from each side

Matt Mullenweg and Automattic were painted in a bad light after the WP Engine dispute became public. The motion to dismiss says Mullenweg was trying to protect the WordPress community by arguing that every controversy looks different depending on who’s telling the story. Now the judge has to decide.

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