WordPress hosting service WP Engine sent out a notice on Monday cease and desist letter Automattic after the latter’s CEO Matt Mullenweg called WP Engine a “cancer for WordPress” last week.
The notice asks Automattic and Mullenweg to retract their comments and stop making statements against the company.
WP Engine, which (like Automattic itself) markets the open source WordPress project, also accused Mullenweg of threatening WP Engine ahead of the WordCamp summit last week.
“Automattic CEO Matthew Mullenweg threatened that if WP Engine did not agree to pay Automattic (his for-profit entity) a large sum of money before his September 20 keynote address at the US convention WordCamp, he would embark on a self-described ‘scorched earth nuclear approach’ towards WP Engine within the WordPress community and beyond,” the letter reads.
“When his outrageous financial demands were not met, Mr. Mullenweg followed through on his threats by making repeated false statements that disparaged WP Engine to its employees, its customers, and the world,” the letter added.
The letter goes on to allege that last week Automattic began asking WP Engine to pay it “a significant percentage of its gross revenues – tens of millions of dollars, in fact – on an ongoing basis” for a license to use trademarks such as “WordPress.”
WP Engine defended its use of the “WordPress” trademark under fair use laws and said it was consistent with the platform’s guidelines. The letter also contains screenshots of text messages from Mullenweg to WP Engine’s CEO and board members that appear to indicate that Mullenweg would advocate for banning WP Engine from WordPress community events in his WordCamp talk if the company did not comply with Automattic’s demands.
Automattic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
WordPress co-creator Mullenweg last week criticized WP Engine for generating profits without giving much back to the open source project, while disabling key features that make WordPress such a powerful platform in the first place.
Last week, in a blog entryMullenweg said WP Engine contributed 47 hours per week to the “Five for the future” Commitment to investment to contribute resources to WordPress’ sustained growth. Comparatively, he said Automattic was contributing about $3,900 per week. He acknowledged that while these numbers are just a “representation,” there is a large gap in contribution despite both companies being similar in size and generating about $500 million in revenue. (WP Engine disputes that characterization in its C&D letter.)
In a separate blog entryHe also said that WP Engine offers customers a “cheap imitation” of WordPress.
Notably, Automattic invested in WP Engine back in 2011, when the company raised $1.2 million in funding. Since then, WP Engine has raised over $300 million in capital, the bulk of which came from a $250 million investment from private equity firm Silver Lake in 2018.