The simmering feud between Automattic, maker of WordPress.com, and hosting provider WP Engine has escalated, as Automattic filed its counterclaims on Friday in response to a 2024 lawsuit that accused its CEO, Matt Mullenweg, of defamation and bullying tactics. Automattic insists its actions were justified, alleging that WP Engine violated WordPress trademark rules and misled customers while giving little back to the open-source community that powers its business model.
According to Automattic, WP Engine crossed ethical and legal lines after securing a $250 million investment from private equity firm Silver Lake, shifting from fair use to outright infringement by branding itself as “The WordPress Technology Company” and allowing partners to refer to it as “WordPress Engine.” The counterclaims further allege that WP Engine released deceptively named products like “Core WordPress” and “Headless WordPress,” while falsely boasting that it devoted 5% of its resources to the ecosystem. Automattic says the company negotiated a licensing deal in bad faith as it continued to benefit from the WordPress name.
Automattic argues that Silver Lake’s financial interests were driving WP Engine’s strategy, implying that paying trademark licensing fees would shrink profits and dent valuation targets — including an alleged attempt to sell WP Engine for $2 billion. The filing also accuses the company of cost-cutting measures that weakened product quality and degraded user experience, even as it leaned on the WordPress brand for commercial gain.
WP Engine, however, has rejected the claims as unfounded, maintaining that its use of the WordPress trademark is “consistent with longstanding industry practice and fair use under settled trademark law.” With both sides now dug in, the dispute appears far from over, setting the stage for a high-stakes legal showdown that could test the boundaries between open-source ideals and commercial ambition in the WordPress ecosystem.