\n<\/p>\n
On Friday, WordPress.com maker Automattic\u00a0filed<\/a>\u00a0its\u00a0counterclaims<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0lawsuit initiated by hosting company WP Engine<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0October 2024<\/a>, which had accused Automattic and its CEO, Matt Mullenweg,<\/span> of defamation and abuse of power. Automattic believes that WP Engine has been abusing the WordPress trademark and has engaged in deceptive marketing practices, without properly giving back to the open source community.<\/p>\n As a result, Automattic took action<\/a> against WP Engine last year, which included calling<\/a> the hosting provider a \u201ccancer to WordPress\u201d and sending it a cease-and-desist<\/a> letter claiming WP Engine had breached its trademark usage rules. As the battle continued, Automattic banned<\/a> WP Engine from accessing WordPress.org resources and attempted to negotiate a licensing deal with the host. Automattic claims that the company strung it along, negotiating in bad faith.<\/p>\n WP Engine eventually sued Automattic, portraying itself as the victim of Mullenweg\u2019s attacks. But in Automattic\u2019s telling of events, after the private equity firm Silver Lake invested $250 million in WP Engine, it shifted from fair use to trademark infringement by calling itself \u201cThe WordPress Technology Company\u201d and letting its partners refer to it as \u201cWordPress Engine.\u201d<\/p>\n Automattic notes that the hosting company also launched products with names like \u201cCore WordPress\u201d and \u201cHeadless WordPress,\u201d and claimed to its customers that it had committed 5% of its resources to support the WordPress ecosystem. Automattic says it never kept those promises. Automattic alleges that the trademark infringement was deliberate, saying WP Engine only \u201cpretended to engage in licensing discussions, but actually delayed and negotiated in bad faith.\u201d<\/p>\n Silver Lake plays a central role in the counterclaims, which imply that the interests of the private equity firm guided much of WP Engine\u2019s behavior. In particular, the counterclaims allege that WP Engine engaged in trademark violations because paying licensing fees would impact the company\u2019s earnings and valuation, and therefore, Silver Lake\u2019s expected return.<\/p>\n The counterclaims also allege that Silver Lake was seeking to offload WP Engine at a $2 billion valuation, but couldn\u2019t find a buyer. Notably, the filing says that this included \u201covertures to Automattic.\u201d<\/p>\n Automattic also claims that WP Engine degraded the consumer experience and product quality in an attempt to cut costs during this time by removing essential features. <\/p>\n WP Engine responded to the counterclaims with the following statement: <\/p>\n \u201cWP Engine\u2019s use of the WordPress trademark to refer to the open-source software is consistent with longstanding industry practice and fair use under settled trademark law, and we will defend against these baseless claims.\u201d<\/p>\n