Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic, which manages the commercial trademark of the content management system WordPress, is in a dispute with web hosting service WP Engine over the WordPress trademark, the IT news site The Verge reports. The contents of the interview are published.
Matt Mullenweg: ‘WordPress.org just belongs to me’ – The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/4/24262232/matt-mullenweg-wordpress-org-wp-engine
CEO Mullenweg, along with Mike Little, developed WordPress as a fork of b2/cafelog. After dropping out of university in 2004, CEO Mullenweg continued developing WordPress and founded Automattic in December 2005. As part of monetizing WordPress, Automattic is developing “WordPress.com” as a managed web hosting service as its main product.
What kind of person is WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, CEO of WordPress, who believed that “open source is the future of the Internet” and created a company worth 860 billion yen over 18 years from the age of 19? -GIGAZINE
On the other hand, WordPress itself continues to be developed as an open source content management system, and the development project is operated as “WordPress.org”. The non-profit organization that manages WordPress.org is the WordPress Foundation, which was established in 2010 by CEO Mullenweg and others.
CEO Mullenweg’s title is “CEO of Automattic, which operates the for-profit service WordPress.com,” “owner of the open source project WordPress.org,” and “leader of the WordPress Foundation.”
CEO Mullenweg says that WP Engine, a WordPress-based web hosting service, isIt’s a cancer of WordPress.” and criticized,Block access to WordPress.org from WP EngineWe announced that. WP Engine is suing CEO Mullenweg in court, demanding a retraction of his statements and an injunction to block access.
WP Engine sues WordPress developer Automattic and CEO Matt Mullenweg, dispute over WordPress trademark finally goes to court – GIGAZINE
In an interview with The Verge, CEO Mullenweg said, “WordPress.org is personally owned by me.As the owner of WordPress.org, I would like to take legal action against me and promote companies using the WordPress trademark.” We don’t want to, so we’ve blocked WP Engine’s access to WordPress.org.”
CEO Mullenweg is the founder of the WordPress development project and the leader of the WordPress Foundation, so there is no doubt that CEO Mullenweg will have ownership of WordPress.org. The Verge says, “While WordPress.org is a non-profit platform independent of Automattic, it is not a neutral, independent arbiter of the entire WordPress ecosystem.”
CEO Mullenweg criticized WP Engine for not putting enough time and money into developing the WordPress ecosystem, saying, “It’s like catching Al Capone with taxes. So if a company… If you make $500 million with WordPress and only donate $100,000 a year, we’d want them to donate more. We’re using our means to put pressure on them. Yes, we’re putting pressure on them.”
The Verge noted that WP Engine’s decision to have its access to WordPress.org cut off also put other WordPress projects in a precarious position. WordPress is open source and free to use, with no refund obligations. However, if the project is successful, it can be said that a precedent has been created where access will be blocked from WordPress.org unless you contribute more than a certain amount to WordPress.org.
“I’m willing to give WordPress.org to literally every other host out there, with no obligation to give anything back, and WordPress will forever remain open source, so there will never be a legal obligation to give anything back,” said CEO Mullenweg. However, it’s better for WordPress if they give back.”
The Verge says, “In the battle between CEO Mullenweg and WP Engine, the lines between WordPress.org, the WordPress Foundation that supports it, and the commercial division owned by Automattic are becoming blurred.”
In addition,There are voices within the company questioning CEO Mullenweg’s actions.“The attacks on me and Automattic by WP Engine and its parent company Silver Lake have been effective, although unfounded. Many of my colleagues at Automattic have spoken out against me and our actions. It has become clear thatown blogComment with. On top of that, “If you retire from Automattic by 20:00 (UTC) on October 3, 2024, you will receive the higher of $30,000 (approximately 4.5 million yen) or 6 months’ salary.” It has been announced that the company has been notified. As a result, 159 people, or 8.4% of Automattic’s employees, resigned.
Copy the title and URL of this article