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>The trademark dispute here is the use of the phrase "Advanced Custom Fields" in Automatic's marketing and on their website, as illustrated in the picture just

>The trademark dispute here is the use of the phrase "Advanced Custom Fields" in Automatic's marketing and on their website, as illustrated in the picture just above that section of the article. Yes, I read that section. But two things. I feel like that's restating the same point I was already making as though it were an elaboration, which is frustrating. Yes, they are using the disputed terms, not just "Advanced Custom Fields" but also "WP Engine". And secondly, it may be true in some notional sense that doing such a thing as using the term just in a comparative reference to something else (e.g. OpenOffice vs Microsoft Office) is fair use. But that's not what Automattic is doing, which is precisely why it's puzzling that invoking that sense of "fair use" is their response to a charge that is about their use in a much more specifically commercial context.

bigiain 2y ago
> The trademark dispute ... Is something Matt started, when he suddenly went after WPEngine for trademark use after decades of their use - during which time Matt praised and even invested in their business. And he has publicly admitted trademark use not the real issue he has, but that he's using it as leverage in his attempt to extort WPEngine out of a huge amount of money that he's not legally entitled to - telling The Verge what he's doing is like Al Capone getting arrested/charged for taxes. The last sentence in the OP is 100% true: "But as long as Matt’s motivations with WordPress are tied to his profits at Automattic, he can’t be trusted." (I'd go further and say there's pretty much nothing Matt can do now to regain the trust in him that's been lost.) “In my role as owning WordPress.org, I don’t want to promote a company, which is A: legally threatening me and B: using the WordPress trademark. That’s part of why we cut off access from the servers.” From: https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/4/24262232/matt-mullenweg-wordpress-org-wp-engine https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/4/24262232/matt-mullenweg-w... “The analogy I made is they got Al Capone for taxes,” Mullenweg says. “So, if a company was making half a billion dollars from WordPress and contributing back about $100,000 a year, yes, I would be trying to get them to contribute more.”

bigiain 2y ago

> The trademark dispute ... Is something Matt started, when he suddenly went after WPEngine for trademark use after decades of their use - during which time Matt praised and even invested in their business. And he has publicly admitted trademark use not the real issue he has, but that he's using it as leverage in his attempt to extort WPEngine out of a huge amount of money that he's not legally entitled to - telling The Verge what he's doing is like Al Capone getting arrested/charged for taxes. The last sentence in the OP is 100% true: "But as long as Matt’s motivations with WordPress are tied to his profits at Automattic, he can’t be trusted." (I'd go further and say there's pretty much nothing Matt can do now to regain the trust in him that's been lost.) “In my role as owning WordPress.org, I don’t want to promote a company, which is A: legally threatening me and B: using the WordPress trademark. That’s part of why we cut off access from the servers.” From: https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/4/24262232/matt-mullenweg-wordpress-org-wp-engine https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/4/24262232/matt-mullenweg-w... “The analogy I made is they got Al Capone for taxes,” Mullenweg says. “So, if a company was making half a billion dollars from WordPress and contributing back about $100,000 a year, yes, I would be trying to get them to contribute more.”