What just happened? A class action lawsuit has been initiated against Automattic, the company responsible for WordPress, along with its founder, Matt Mullenweg. This action intensifies an ongoing conflict with the web hosting provider WP Engine. The lawsuit, put forth by WP Engine client Ryan Keller, accuses Automattic and Mullenweg of intentionally disrupting contracts and exploiting their control over the WordPress ecosystem.
Keller, the owner of Keller Holdings – a firm dedicated to creating websites for businesses and individuals – seeks compensation for impacted businesses and a permanent injunction to stop Automattic from leveraging its influence over WordPress.org to hinder competitors.
The conflict concentrates on Automattic’s actions in September 2024, when the company cut off WPE’s access to WordPress software updates, security patches, and plugins. This decision reportedly affected hundreds of thousands of websites hosted by WPE, significantly hindering their maintenance and security.
The class action corresponds to all WP Engine clients in the U.S. with active hosting plans from September 24, 2024, to December 10, 2024.
Automattic states that its actions were driven by a trademark infringement conflict with WPE. However, the lawsuit argues this was a “poorly disguised attempt to extort WPE” for “tens of millions of dollars” linked to the use of the WordPress trademark.
Keller, a WPE client for more than a decade, contends that Automattic’s actions placed him and other WPE clients in an “impossible situation” by blocking vital WordPress resources. The lawsuit emphasizes WordPress software’s long-standing promise of being “free and available to everyone forever,” a commitment that has facilitated its widespread use, supporting over 40 percent of all websites globally.
Keller, with over a decade of experience using WPE, claims that Automattic’s actions forced him and other WPE clients into an “impossible situation” by severing access to the WordPress ecosystem. The lawsuit underscores the longstanding assurance that WordPress software remains “free and available to everyone forever,” a promise that inspired its widespread utilization on more than 40 percent of websites globally.
This lawsuit comes after a previous legal struggle between WPE and Automattic. In December, a U.S. district judge issued a preliminary injunction in favor of WPE, instructing Automattic to cease blocking WPE clients from accessing the WordPress ecosystem and to retract a publicly accessible list of WPE customers.
Automattic responded to the new lawsuit, labeling it as “without merit” and dismissing it as a repetition of “the same baseless allegations in the WP Engine lawsuit.” The company affirms its dedication to safeguarding open-source principles and the larger WordPress community, expressing confidence in succeeding in court.
The lawsuit raises alarm over the broader ramifications of this conflict for the open-source software community, with Keller’s complaint warning that Automattic’s actions risk “harming the entire internet as a whole” if unchecked, potentially establishing a perilous precedent for restricting access to open-source software.
Conversely, should Automattic’s actions be deemed unlawful, the ruling could affirm that no single entity has total control over an open-source project. Such a decision might constrain Automattic’s capacity to fiercely enforce WordPress trademarks moving forward.
