I’ve been writing and talking about WP Engine a lot in the last week, but I want to be crystal clear about the core issue at play.
In short, WP Engine is violating WordPress’ trademarks. Moreover, they have been doing so for years. We at Automattic have been attempting to make a licensing deal with them for a very long time, and all they have done is string us along. Finally, I drew a line in the sand, which they have now leapt over.
We offered WP Engine the option of how to pay their fair share: either pay a direct licensing fee, or make in-kind contributions to the open source project. This isn’t a money grab: it’s an expectation that any business making hundreds of millions of dollars off of an open source project ought to give back, and if they don’t, then they can’t use its trademarks. WP Engine has refused to do either, and has instead taken to casting aspersions on my attempt to make a fair deal with them.
WordPress is licensed under the GPL; respect for copyright and IP like trademarks is core to the GPL and our conception of what open source means. If WP Engine wants to find another open source project with a more permissive license and no trademarks, they are free to do so; if they want to benefit from the WordPress community, then they need to respect WordPress trademark and IP.
Further reading:
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Thanks, Matt. I’m listening to the chat on x.com that’s hosted by Tia Wood. Thanks for sharing and answering questions, you are on the right side, Matt.
https://x.com/i/spaces/1dRKZdVLgPQJB
Btw, did you know that WPEngine is advertising for the “WordPress Engine” keyword?
https://share.zight.com/6qu1YBA9
I just heard about the situation with Woo and Stripe. Leave it to private equity to find a way to leech off the work, maintenance, and development of a plugin by another company. The only mistake you’ve made here is that you didn’t expose WP Engine sooner.
It’s not just WP Engine either. Because while what they’re doing is damaging to the ecosystem, it’s also very profitable, and that will condition other companies to engage in the same destructive behaviors.
I’m grateful for all you’ve done, and all that you’re doing now. A lot of people might not understand that what you’re doing is for the greater good of WordPress, but in hindsight I think they’ll understand that it was necessary.
This topic has been a hot topic in the WordPress community. I hope that a good conclusion will be reached for the greater good of WordPress ecosystem.
Matt this is still not clear at all. WordPress is licensed under GPL. Are we okay to say we use WordPress and promote this? Presumably yes, therefore what specifically wp engine doing wrong?
I’ve no doubt that wp engine is, as you say, a leech. But there are plenty of others and this seems all pretty arbitrary