This was never specifically about WP Engine. WP Engine was only the first target.
So it seems if you are an agency that offers Managed Hosting you are now in the limelight as well. This may scare many freelancers and agencies from publicly supporting WordPress services.
“Our beef is only with WP Engine.”
Obviously, WP Engine was the first one to tell Automattic to get bent, and we’ve seen the results. I hope all the other hosts, plugin/theme developers, and anyone else in the WP ecosystem take notice.
It’s not going to stop at WP Engine.
>“A brief perusal of Google Ads and hosting company landing pages will turn up a lot of ‘Managed WordPress’, or companies that offer ‘WordPress Hosting.’” he wrote. “Is this OK? Can we clamp down on these things? The answers are… no, and yes.”
This feels like a pretty huge stab at what makes WordPress a compelling platform compared to many others, with a WordPress site since the underlying technology is open you aren’t locked into any vendors. By doing everything they can to make every other host second-tier Automattic is going to do a lot of damage to the community.
What exactly is a “nice” lawyer going to do? Send a C&D with a gift basket?
>earlier in 2024, Automattic had proposed that WPE participate in a WooCommerce “Hosting Partner Program,” which would have involved WPE collaborating to advance WooCommerce as the leading e-commerce engine for the WordPress ecosystem; Automattic’s proposal referenced the inclusion of a trademark license
Welp, there it is.
This was never specifically about WP Engine. WP Engine was only the first target.
So it seems if you are an agency that offers Managed Hosting you are now in the limelight as well. This may scare many freelancers and agencies from publicly supporting WordPress services.
“Our beef is only with WP Engine.”
Obviously, WP Engine was the first one to tell Automattic to get bent, and we’ve seen the results. I hope all the other hosts, plugin/theme developers, and anyone else in the WP ecosystem take notice.
It’s not going to stop at WP Engine.
>“A brief perusal of Google Ads and hosting company landing pages will turn up a lot of ‘Managed WordPress’, or companies that offer ‘WordPress Hosting.’” he wrote. “Is this OK? Can we clamp down on these things? The answers are… no, and yes.”
This feels like a pretty huge stab at what makes WordPress a compelling platform compared to many others, with a WordPress site since the underlying technology is open you aren’t locked into any vendors. By doing everything they can to make every other host second-tier Automattic is going to do a lot of damage to the community.
What exactly is a “nice” lawyer going to do? Send a C&D with a gift basket?
This lines up with what WP Engine claimed in their [lawsuit](https://wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Complaint-WP-Engine-v-Automattic-et-al-with-Exhibit.pdf). In part, their lawyer wrote:
>earlier in 2024, Automattic had proposed that WPE participate in a WooCommerce “Hosting Partner Program,” which would have involved WPE collaborating to advance WooCommerce as the leading e-commerce engine for the WordPress ecosystem; Automattic’s proposal referenced the inclusion of a trademark license
That had in turn matched up with [what we found](https://www.pluginvulnerabilities.com/2024/10/07/automattics-trademark-infringement-discussions-with-wp-engine-were-actually-discussing-a-woocommerce-hosting-partner-program/) when looking over the timeline that Automattic provided they day before the lawsuit.
The story misses a relevant detail. The WordPress Foundation’s trademark applications for “Managed WordPress” and “Hosted WordPress,” were signed off by the Chief of Staff [who was an Automattic employee](https://www.pluginvulnerabilities.com/2024/10/07/wordpress-foundations-recent-hosting-related-trademark-filings-list-automattic-employee-as-its-chief-of-staff/). (They may have taken the buyout, as they are no longer listed as being Automattic sponsored on their WordPress profile.)
Interesting that the person that wrote the internal blog post in January was Automattic’s general counsel and it says he left the company in April. He had been [the general counsel since 2012](https://techcrunch.com/2012/04/25/wordpress-automattic-45-million-revenu/).