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> They've always been actively protecting their trademark The trademark is owned by the WordPress foundation not Automattic. https://wordpressfoundation.org/t

> They've always been actively protecting their trademark The trademark is owned by the WordPress foundation not Automattic. https://wordpressfoundation.org/trademark-policy https://wordpressfoundation.org/trademark-policy And it has been a standard in this industry for decades (e.g. LAMP) that saying 'X Hosting' does not mean that you should be considered the owner of X. It just means you host it.

mjburgess 2y ago
And if you do a wayback machine till a few months ago on that policy, you'll find they actively give permission for others to use "WP" So the idea theyve been protecting their trademark is against their own trademark policy
- bad_user 2y ago
  The claim is that, while WP is legal, it is “WordPress Engine” that was also used (in press releases or tolerated in the writings of 3rd parties), alongside “WordPress Core”, a plan which they later renamed. I don't know if this changes anything, but I'm guessing a lawsuit is coming, so we shall see. But it would be great if people did some research before commenting on the story.
  - mjburgess 2y ago
    Whenever someone's asking for 8% of gross revenue, they've lost the plot regardless of the underlying claim. For most businesses that's easily much more they're taking in profit. One imagines were this agreement in place, WPEngine would have to raise their prices to levels beyond what any customer would pay. Likewise, the use of "wordpress" as a trademark is clearly permitted when referring to wordpress; it's a common part of trademark law that you can refer to products in this manner. WPE customers do not think WPE is wordpress, it's a host. cf., "The most trusted platform for WordPress" --https://wpengine.com https://wpengine.com
  - threeseed 2y ago
    > “WordPress Engine” that was also used (in press releases) Do you have examples of these since you've done so much research ? Look forward to Automattic also going after companies using the term "WordPress Plugin" as well.
mthoms 2y ago
It's complicated. The trademark is indeed owned by The Foundation but they have granted Automattic an "exclusive, fully-paid, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sublicensable right and license to use and otherwise exploit the trademarks". This is only just coming to light. So the Foundation appears to only own the trademarks on paper. Despite that, this is how Matt Mullenweg framed the trademark ownership situation to the community: "the most central piece of WordPress’s identity, its name, is now fully independent from any company." he also claimed that Automattic had "give[n] up control" of the trademarks. Those statements are demonstrably untrue. https://ma.tt/2010/09/wordpress-trademark/ https://ma.tt/2010/09/wordpress-trademark/ https://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/assignment-tm-4233-0808.pdf https://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/assignment-tm-4233...

mjburgess 2y ago

And if you do a wayback machine till a few months ago on that policy, you'll find they actively give permission for others to use "WP" So the idea theyve been protecting their trademark is against their own trademark policy

bad_user 2y ago
The claim is that, while WP is legal, it is “WordPress Engine” that was also used (in press releases or tolerated in the writings of 3rd parties), alongside “WordPress Core”, a plan which they later renamed. I don't know if this changes anything, but I'm guessing a lawsuit is coming, so we shall see. But it would be great if people did some research before commenting on the story.
- mjburgess 2y ago
  Whenever someone's asking for 8% of gross revenue, they've lost the plot regardless of the underlying claim. For most businesses that's easily much more they're taking in profit. One imagines were this agreement in place, WPEngine would have to raise their prices to levels beyond what any customer would pay. Likewise, the use of "wordpress" as a trademark is clearly permitted when referring to wordpress; it's a common part of trademark law that you can refer to products in this manner. WPE customers do not think WPE is wordpress, it's a host. cf., "The most trusted platform for WordPress" --https://wpengine.com https://wpengine.com
- threeseed 2y ago
  > “WordPress Engine” that was also used (in press releases) Do you have examples of these since you've done so much research ? Look forward to Automattic also going after companies using the term "WordPress Plugin" as well.

mthoms 2y ago

It's complicated. The trademark is indeed owned by The Foundation but they have granted Automattic an "exclusive, fully-paid, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sublicensable right and license to use and otherwise exploit the trademarks". This is only just coming to light. So the Foundation appears to only own the trademarks on paper. Despite that, this is how Matt Mullenweg framed the trademark ownership situation to the community: "the most central piece of WordPress’s identity, its name, is now fully independent from any company." he also claimed that Automattic had "give[n] up control" of the trademarks. Those statements are demonstrably untrue. https://ma.tt/2010/09/wordpress-trademark/ https://ma.tt/2010/09/wordpress-trademark/ https://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/assignment-tm-4233-0808.pdf https://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/assignment-tm-4233...