On Friday, Automattic, the company behind WordPress, filed its counterclaims in the lawsuit started by the hosting company WP Engine in October 2024. WP Engine had originally accused Automattic and its CEO Matt Mullenweg of defamation and abuse of power.
Automattic believes that WP Engine has been improperly using the WordPress trademark and has engaged in deceptive marketing practices. The company also asserts that WP Engine has not properly contributed back to the open source community that supports WordPress.
In response to these concerns, Automattic took several actions against WP Engine last year. These actions included publicly calling the hosting provider a cancer to WordPress and sending it a formal cease-and-desist letter. The letter alleged that WP Engine had violated trademark usage rules. As the dispute continued, Automattic banned WP Engine from accessing official WordPress.org resources and attempted to negotiate a licensing agreement. Automattic claims that WP Engine strung it along by negotiating in bad faith.
WP Engine then sued Automattic, presenting itself as the victim of attacks from Matt Mullenweg. However, Automattic’s version of events is different. They state that after the private equity firm Silver Lake invested two hundred and fifty million dollars in WP Engine, the host shifted from fair use to trademark infringement. This shift included WP Engine calling itself The WordPress Technology Company and allowing partners to refer to it as WordPress Engine.
Automattic also notes that WP Engine launched products with names like Core WordPress and Headless WordPress. The hosting company allegedly told its customers that it had committed five percent of its resources to support the WordPress ecosystem, but Automattic says these promises were never kept. The counterclaims allege the trademark infringement was deliberate, stating WP Engine only pretended to engage in licensing discussions while actually delaying and negotiating in bad faith.
Silver Lake plays a central role in the counterclaims. The filing implies that the private equity firm’s interests guided much of WP Engine’s behavior. It is alleged that WP Engine engaged in trademark violations because paying licensing fees would have negatively impacted the company’s earnings and valuation, and therefore, Silver Lake’s expected financial return.
The counterclaims further allege that Silver Lake was seeking to sell WP Engine at a two billion dollar valuation but could not find a buyer. Notably, the filing states that this search for a buyer included overtures to Automattic itself.
Finally, Automattic claims that during this period, WP Engine degraded the consumer experience and product quality in an attempt to cut costs. This was allegedly done by removing essential features from its services.