Automattic Can’t Decide if WordPress.org is a Previously Undisclosed Non-Profit or If It is Just Matt Mullenweg
As part of Matt Mullenweg’s extortion campaign against WP Engine, someone with control of the WordPress website started blocking customers of WP Engine from getting security updates for WordPress software. That makes the ownership/control of the WordPress website as critical security issue to understand. So who owns the WordPress website? It seems it should be a simple question to answer, but even the CEO of Automattic and Automattic are not on the same page on that.
In a post on Automattic’s website published on October 2 (and subsequently updated on October 3), an associate general counsel at Automattic, wrote that the non-profit WordPress “Foundation also licensed the name WordPress to the non-profit WordPress.org, which runs a website that facilitates access to WordPress-related software.” That would mean there is a second non-profit besides the WordPress Foundation, which exists, but that people are not aware of.
Continuing claims made elsewhere going further back, the CEO of Automattic Matt Mullenweg claimed in an interview with The Verge published on October 4 that “WordPress.org just belongs to me personally” and also said “in my role as owning WordPress.org.”
On October 3, Automattic published post with listed author that stated that “Last night, WP Engine filed a baseless lawsuit against Automattic, Matt Mullenweg, and WordPress.org.” The link is to a tweet, which in turns links to WP Engine’s lawsuit. The first page of the lawsuit states the defendants are “AUTOMATTIC INC., a Delaware corporation; and MATTHEW CHARLES MULLENWEG, an individual.” Notably absent is WordPress.org.
On October 3 we reached out Automattic’s press team seeking clarification on the claim about there being a non-profit WordPress.org entity. We have yet to receive a response.
Considering how much Matt Mullenweg has been saying that can be vetted is being found to be false, you can’t take what he is saying as being truthful. So maybe the associate general counsel of Automattic is correct, but then why is Automattic claiming that WordPress.org was sued, when the lawsuit doesn’t list that non-profit as a defendant?