WP Engine web hosting company is suing WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and Automattic for defamation and attempted extortion following a public dispute over the WordPress trademark and open source projects. In a federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday, WP Engine accuses Automattic and its CEO Mullenweg of “abuse of power, racketeering and greed” and says it will work to prevent them from causing further harm to WP Engine and the WordPress community.
WP Engine is the main competitor of WordPress.com, with over 200,000 websites using the service. Mullenweg runs Automattic, which owns WordPress.com, which sells hosted versions of the open source WordPress software, like WP Engine.
WP Engine lists 11 complaints in the lawsuit, accusing Mullenweg and Automattic of defamation, defamation, attempted extortion and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. WP Engine also claims that the WordPress Foundation, the nonprofit organization led by Mullenweg that supports the open source WordPress project, failed to disclose its trademark ownership to the IRS and accuses Mellenweg of making false statements to the IRS.
“Matt Mullenweg’s conduct over the past ten days exposed significant conflicts of interest and governance issues that, if left unchecked, could destroy that trust,” WP Engine said in a statement. TechCrunch. “WP Engine had no choice but to pursue these claims to protect its employees, agency partners, customers, and the broader WordPress community.”
