WordPress vs. WP Engine: What’s behind the bitter dispute

1. WordPress vs. WP Engine: What’s behind the bitter dispute

2. Reckoning on stage

3. Trademark rights and cancer

4. Cease and desist letters sent

5. WordPress adopts AFC plugin

6. Employees flee

7. It’s going to court

WordPress is by far the most successful content management system (CMS) in the world. It powers more than 40 percent of all websites – although it was once started purely as a blog system. The rise is impressive: WordPress is now a loved and hated all-rounder that learns additional special skills through numerous plug-ins. An active community allows the open CMS to thrive while for-profit companies make millions from the CMS. But do they give enough back or do they make cold use of the open project? A question that also concerns Matt Mullenweg.

• WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg accuses the host WP Engine of not doing enough for the CMS and violating trademark rights.
• The conflict escalated publicly when Mullenweg described the hoster as a “cancer” and banned him from WordPress.org.
• Parts of the WordPress community reacted with irritation and even bewilderment. Because of the controversy, Mullenweg’s employees left his company, Automattic.
• A US court must now clarify the dispute: WP Engine has filed a lawsuit against Mullenweg and Automattic.

As chief developer, Mullenweg is the best-known face behind the CMS: “WordPress.org only belongs to me personally,” he finds. He has been working on the project for half his life – the last few weeks in September and October were probably the most stressful of his career. This was due to a bitter dispute between him and the hoster WP Engine; a dispute that continued to escalate and will soon end up in court.

The WordPress community is divided and the mood in Mullenweg’s company Automattic is apparently bad: More than a hundred employees have left the company since the public dispute with WP Engine. A big drama that involves a lot of money, violated trademark rights and how an open source project is financed. But how did this public dispute actually come about? Is it embarrassing and petty or is it appropriate?

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