The most recent spherical within the battle between WordPress proprietor Automattic and WP Engine was received by the latter with California District Courtroom choose Araceli Martínez-Olguín issuing an injunction to stop Automattic blocking WP Engine’s entry to WordPress.org sources and persevering with to intrude with its plugins.
“Whereas Defendants characterize WP Engine’s hurt as self-imposed as a result of it constructed its enterprise round a web site ‘that it had no contractual proper to make use of…’ Defendants’ position in serving to that hurt materialize by way of their current focused actions towards WPEngine, and no different competitor, can’t be ignored,” she wrote.
The place this all got here from. WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg had publicly complained about trademark violations, alleging that WP Engine was illegitimately monetizing them whereas deceptive customers to consider that there’s a formal affiliation between WP Engine and WordPress. Stop and desist letters had been exchanged. Then WP Engine filed a lawsuit towards Mullenweg and Auttomatic accusing them of extortion.
Why we care. Lots of advertising (and information) organizations depend on WordPress, nonetheless the dominant participant within the CMS market. Something which makes the content material creation journey bumpier is regrettable. Mullenweg has but to rage concerning the determination on his weblog, however we’re keeping track of it.
Dig deeper: WordPress strikes to ban WP Engine from accessing its sources