WP Engine Seeks Court Intervention in WordPress Dispute, Accuses Automattic of Extortion
San Francisco, CA – The ongoing feud between WordPresshosting provider WP Engine and Automattic, the company behind the popular content management system, has escalated further with WP Engine filing a motion for a preliminary injunction, seeking toregain access to WordPress resources and prevent Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg from further public attacks.
In the motion filed on Friday, WP Engine argues that itis facing irreparable harm due to the actions of Mullenweg and Automattic, including loss of customers, market share, and goodwill. The company also claims that service cancellation requests increased by 14% between September 26th and 30th, following Mullenweg’s public condemnation of WP Engine as a cancer on the WordPress community.
WP Engine is demanding that Automattic restore the status quo to the way things were beforethe dispute began. Developers are anxious, and they want assurances that they won’t be the next ones to receive an extortion demand from Mullenweg, won’t be his next nuclear war target, and won’t be the next ones to have their plugins seized, the motion reads. Defendants’ attemptedhostile takeover is increasing the security risk for everyone in the WordPress community.
The conflict between WP Engine and Automattic intensified after Mullenweg publicly criticized WP Engine’s services and accused the company of trademark infringement. Following a series of cease-and-desist letters exchanged between the two companies, WP Engine filed a lawsuit against Automatticand Mullenweg, accusing them of abuse of power, extortion, and greed.
Last week, the open-source WordPress.org project, also led by Mullenweg, took control of WP Engine’s ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) plugin. ACF users on WordPress.org received an updatethat migrated them to a forked version of the plugin, Secure Custom Fields, now controlled by WordPress.
WP Engine’s motion for a preliminary injunction highlights the growing tension within the WordPress community, with accusations of bullying and intimidation swirling around Mullenweg and Automattic. The outcome of this legal battle could havesignificant implications for the future of WordPress and the relationship between its developers, users, and hosting providers.
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