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Tag Archives: Matt Mullenweg

11 Oct 2024

Matt Mullenweg Is Now Claiming WordPress.org Provides “Access to WordPress-Related Software at No Charge,” While Trying to Charge for Access

If you are trying to figure out what is going on with WordPress these days, it is difficult, as Matt Mullenweg and others on his side are saying things that appear to varying degrees to not be true. We previously covered how a lawyer for Automattic was claiming that a non-profit owned WordPress.org, while Matt Mullenweg is claiming he owns it. On the Hacker News, Matt Mullenweg responded to a reply about that by claiming that “All the information in the links you shared is totally wrong.” One of three links he claimed contained information that is totally wrong was a post he had written. He then responded, “Sorry for that error, the post has been updated now.” The change made to the post doesn’t make sense from a legal perspective, but it also involved Matt Mullenweg making a striking claim based on what else he is doing.

Here is the relevant sentence from the post before it was changed, with emphasis added by us to the relevant change: [Read more]

10 Oct 2024

Automattic’s Lawyer Falsely Claims Automattic Doesn’t Control What Code is Labeled WordPress

In a couple of previous posts, we have looked at claims coming from an associate general counsel at Automattic. This person is claiming that there is a never before disclosed non-proft that controls the WordPress website, which runs counter the claim by Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg that he owns it. They also are claiming, in direct contradiction to Matt Mullenweg, that the WordPress trademark was not donated to the WordPress Foundation.

Now he apparently is replying on the Hacker News. The responses are strange and you might reasonably believe that it is an impostor. But the account‘s username is the same as his name and is listed as being created in February 2017. [Read more]

9 Oct 2024

Matt Mullenweg Claims the WordPress Trademark Was Donated to the WordPress Foundation, Automattic’s Lawyer Disagrees

The trademark for WordPress plays an important role in Matt Mullenweg’s extortion campaign against WP Engine, and all the security implications that come out of it. What is clear is how unclear things have been with that. Matt Mullenweg has said things that are misleading and in other cases appear to be outright false. One of his own lawyers is disagreeing with him over fundamental issue (it isn’t the only issue they disagree with him). Was the trademark donated to the WordPress Foundation or not?

Matt Mullenweg’s announcement in 2010 said the trademark was donated (emphasis ours): [Read more]

9 Oct 2024

WordPress’ Latest Canonical Plugin WPGraphQL is Still Using Vulnerable Version of Library 18 Months Later

Two days ago Matt Mullenweg announced the WordPress plugin WPGraphQL was becoming a canonical plugin:

Happy to announce that WP GraphQL is becoming canonical on WordPress.org. I could say more, but I’ll let Jason tell his story. [Read more]

8 Oct 2024

WordPress Documentation On Confusion With WordPress.com Changed to Include Ridiculous Ad Promoting WordPress.com

The voice of WordPress could be a powerful force to help address many problems that exist in the WordPress space. Including lots of FUD about security that gets in the way of focusing on fixing real security issues. Unfortunately, it is increasingly being used to promote the for-profit interests of Matt Mullenweg. That has bled in to the WordPress documentation.

Recently, Matt Mullenweg has been complaining that people confuse WordPress and WP Engine. If this really is a significant issue, then there is a bigger issue that he could address. The confusion between his for-profit WordPress.com and WordPress. There is so much confusion that the WordPress website, WordPress.org, has a post titled “What’s the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?” That page has existed since at least 2015. Since 2015, the page has this as the final section: [Read more]

7 Oct 2024

Automattic’s “Trademark Infringement” Discussions With WP Engine Were Actually Discussing a WooCommerce Hosting Partner Program

If you are trying to figure out what really was happening with WP Engine and Automattic ahead Matt Mullenweg’s extortion campaign, as has been the case with so much else, WP Engine has provided a clear explanation and the other side hasn’t. Looking at both sides’ claims, we found that Automattic had not disclosed key information about what was really going on. What it shows is that there was discussion going on, but it wasn’t about supposed trademark infringement or WP Engine not supporting WordPress enough.

Matt Mulleweg has been asked about the timeline of the events and if he has a paper trail. He hasn’t provided it. You can see him just reading off calendar events in one interview. [Read more]

4 Oct 2024

Matt Mullenweg Can’t Be Removed From the Leadership of WordPress Because He Is the Leadership

We keep seeing news stories and commentary about Matt Mullenweg’s extortion campaign against WP Engine and all the fallout of that, which gets basic details wrong. That is in large part because Matt Mullenweg has been very successful in making it seem that things are different than they are. For example, lots of people have understandably believed that the WordPress website was controlled by the WordPress Foundation, but it isn’t. The foundation has little control over WordPress.

On example of confusion that needs addressing is a post titled, “If WordPress is to survive, Matt Mullenweg must be removed,” which seems to be getting a lot of attention. The important questions to ask in response to that are what Matt Mullenweg would be removed from and how would that happen. [Read more]

3 Oct 2024

Matt Mullenweg Explains How He Personally Puts Automattic Employees in Charge of WordPress

In our post detailing that various different entities that Matt Mullenweg has around WordPress, we quoted an Automattic employee claiming that “the WordPress project is so much more than Automattic and always should be.” But we also noted that “WordPress essentially slots in to Automattic’s organization chart.”

As part of Matt Mullenweg continued posting through his legal trouble, he responded to this question about how someone could apply for a job at Automattic to be the Executive Director of WordPress: [Read more]

3 Oct 2024

Matt Mullenweg Is Claiming His License From the WordPress Foundation for the WordPress Trademark Is All Public, the License Isn’t Public

When we last covered Matt Mullenweg’s claims about the WordPress trademark, we focused on his claim in an interview that the licenses the WordPress Foundation has with Automattic and him are revocable. That runs counter the publicly available license for Automattic, which says that it is “perpetual, irrevocable.” We also noted that the WordPress Foundation hasn’t published any the licenses it has with anyone on their website. The Automattic license is available through the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s website.

That makes a response he provided on the Hacker News after WP Engine filed a lawsuit highlighted his misleading claims about the trademark situation stand out: [Read more]

3 Oct 2024

Automattic is Now Claiming That a Non-Profit Other Than the WordPress Foundation Controls WordPress and WordPress.org

There continues to be confusion over who or what actually owns WordPress and the associated wordpress.org website. Considering what has happened recently, the ownership is a big security issue. Adding to the confusion was a post published yesterday on the website of Automattic, which is headed by Matt Mullenweg. Matt Mullenweg is claiming to personally own WordPress.org. The post by Neil Peretz, an associate general counsel at Automattic is titled WordPress Trademarks: A Legal Perspective. It makes this claim:

The Foundation also licensed the name WordPress to the non-profit WordPress.org, which runs a website that facilitates access to WordPress-related software. [Read more]