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WordPress hosting servicing WP Engine on Monday sent acease - and - abstain letterto Automattic after Automattic ’s CEO Matt Mullenwegcalled WP locomotive a “ cancer to WordPress”last calendar week .
Today WP Engine post what is called a “ cease and desist ” letter of the alphabet to Automattic demanding that Automattic and its CEO Matt Mullenweg stop get and retract false , harmful and disparaging statements against WP Engine . In answer to misinformation he has pass around about the …
WP Engine , which ( like Automattic ) commercializes the unfastened origin WordPress project , also accused Mullenweg of threatening WP Engine before the WordCamp crown held last workweek .
“ Automattic ’s chief operating officer Matthew Mullenweg threatened that if WP Engine did not harmonise to ante up Automattic — his for - profit entity — a very large total of money before his September 20th keynote address at the WordCamp US Convention , he was operate to venture on a ego - described ‘ scorched earth nuclear approach ’ toward WP Engine within the WordPress community and beyond , ” the letter take .
“ When his outrageous financial demands were not met , Mr. Mullenweg carried out his threats by make repeated false claims disparage WP Engine to its employees , its customers , and the cosmos , ” the letter added .
The letter goes on to allege that Automattic last week started asking WP Engine to pay it “ a significant part of its crude revenues — 10 of millions of dollars in fact — on an ongoing ground ” for a license to habituate stylemark like “ WordPress . ”
WP Engine defended its usance of the “ WordPress ” trademark under middling use law and said it was logical with the platform ’s rule of thumb . The letter also has screenshots of Mullenweg ’s text messages to WP Engine ’s CEO and add-in member that look to state that Mullenweg would make the case to ban WP Engine from WordPress biotic community result in his talk at WordCamp if the company did not accede to Automattic ’s demand .
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Automattic did not instantly respond to a request for remark .
Mullenweg , who co - make WordPress , last week criticize WP Engine for scan in net income without giving much back to the open source labor , while also incapacitate fundamental lineament that make WordPress such a powerful platform in the first place .
Last week , ina blog post , Mullenweg said WP Engine was contributing 47 hours per week to the“Five for the Future”investment pledge to contribute resourcefulness toward the sustained growth of WordPress . Comparatively , he said Automattic was contributing 3,786 hours per workweek . He acknowledged that while these figures are just a “ procurator , ” there is a large gap in donation despite both companies being a similar size and beget around a one-half billion dollars in receipts . ( WP locomotive engine pushes back against that characterization in its C&D alphabetic character . )
Ina separate web log post , he also say WP Engine gives customer a “ punk knock - off ” version of WordPress .
Notably , Automatticinvested in WP Engine in 2011 , when the society raised $ 1.2 million in financial backing . Since then , WP Engine has raise over $ 300 million in fairness , the bulk of which get from a$250 million investing from secret fairness firm Silver Lakein 2018 .
