On Friday, WordPress maker Automattic filed its counterclaims in the lawsuit initiated by hosting company WP Engine in October 2024, which had accused Automattic and its CEO, Matt Mullenweg, of defamation and abuse of power. Automattic believes that WP Engine has been abusing the WordPress trademark and has engaged in deceptive marketing practices, without properly giving back to the open source community.
As a result, Automattic took action against WP Engine last year, which included calling the hosting provider a “cancer to WordPress” and sending it a cease-and-desist letter claiming WP Engine had breached its trademark usage rules. As the battle continued, Automattic banned WP Engine from accessing WordPress.org resources and attempted to negotiate a licensing deal with the host. Automattic claims that the company strung it along, negotiating in bad faith.
WP Engine eventually sued Automattic, portraying itself as the victim of Mullenweg’s attacks. But in Automattic’s telling of events, after the private equity firm Silver Lake invested $250 million in WP Engine, it shifted from fair use to trademark infringement by calling itself “The WordPress Technology Company” and letting its partners refer to it as “WordPress Engine.”
Automattic notes that the hosting company also launched products with names like “Core WordPress” and “Headless WordPress,” and claimed to its customers that it had committed 5% of its resources to support the WordPress ecosystem. Automattic says it never kept those promises. Automattic alleges that the trademark infringement was deliberate, saying WP Engine only “pretended to engage in licensing discussions, but actually delayed and negotiated in bad faith.”
Silver Lake plays a central role in the counterclaims, which imply that the interests of the private equity firm guided much of WP Engine’s behavior. In particular, the counterclaims allege that WP Engine engaged in trademark violations because paying licensing fees would impact the company’s earnings and valuation, and therefore, Silver Lake’s expected return.
The counterclaims also allege that Silver Lake was seeking to offload WP Engine at a $2 billion valuation, but couldn’t find a buyer. Notably, the filing says that this included “overtures to Automattic.”
Automattic also claims that WP Engine degraded the consumer experience and product quality in an attempt to cut costs during this time by removing essential features.
