This is getting embarrassing. I was a big fan of Matt's before this whole charade started but he's basically flushing 20 years of goodwill down the drain for not a whole lot in return. As best as I can tell this is all over a trademark dispute over the "WP" in WPEngine (and a hand-forcing by Automattic to implement a retroactive licensing agreement)?
Response to WP Engine’s Lawsuit
11–20 of 135 posts
Re: Response to WP Engine’s Lawsuit
#12[flagged]
works for me... > Last night, WP Engine filed a baseless lawsuit against Automattic and Matt Mullenweg. Their complaint is flawed, start to finish. We vehemently deny WP Engine’s allegations—which are gross mischaracterizations of reality—and reserve all of our rights. Automattic is confident in our legal position, and will vigorously litigate against this absurd filing, as well as pursue all remedies against WP Engi…
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Re: Response to WP Engine’s Lawsuit
#13Hopefully his first advice was to tell Matt to cease the hotheaded tweets, livestream interviews, and hn comments.
Re: Response to WP Engine’s Lawsuit
#14After ClassicPress fork here comes: DramaPress
Re: Response to WP Engine’s Lawsuit
#15When this story first emerged, I was somewhat sympathetic to Matt/Automattic. But geeze, he is just looking worse and worse. Between this tantrum and threatening a former employee over a very innocuous statement [1], his credibility is pretty low in my opinion.
[1] https://medium.com/@kelliepeterson/nice-guy-matt-mullenweg-c...
Re: Response to WP Engine’s Lawsuit
#16# A Statement from Automattic Last night, WP Engine filed a baseless lawsuit against Automattic and Matt Mullenweg. Their complaint is flawed, start to finish. We vehemently deny WP Engine’s allegations—which are gross mischaracterizations of reality—and reserve all of our rights. Automattic is confident in our legal position, and will vigorously litigate against this absurd filing, as well as pursue all remedies aga…
You forgot this bit, or perhaps it was edited in:
> Neal has been adverse to Quinn Emanuel a number of times, and won every case.
My perception: the personal grievance comes through loud and clear. Hopefully cases are decided more on their merits and less on the identities of the attorneys prosecuting them.
Re: Response to WP Engine’s Lawsuit
#17What percentage of WPEngine does Automattic own? Why do not they donate to Wordpress Foundation out of that?
Where is it documented Automattic (or Mr Mullenweg) owns any of WP Engine?
(ETA: Not saying it's impossible he or they have an interest -- I've just never seen this suggested. WP Engine is in many ways a competitor to wordpress.com, so it would be unusual, I think. And he/they have long not been a fan of WP Engine.)
Re: Response to WP Engine’s Lawsuit
#18Yesterday: "My lawyer says I can say what I want." Today: "We have hired a lawyer."
Eh, my day-to-day lawyer and the firm I'd hire if a big company sued me and my company are different. If I were in Matt's position I'd have probably taken everything to a single firm that could handle all conceivable work, but it's not uncommon to do otherwise.
The first lawyer he refers to may be actually Automattic corporate counsel, too, and you'd definitely want an outside firm on this suit.
Though any lawyer should have told him to shut up.
Re: Response to WP Engine’s Lawsuit
#19Like many here I suspect I care less about who wins the litigation than about the third parties - businesses, individuals and at least one major charity - who will have been affected by Matt’s and Automattic’s actions.
Where is the blog post about the affect this has had on them?
Re: Response to WP Engine’s Lawsuit
#20Yesterday: "My lawyer says I can say what I want." Today: "We have hired a lawyer."
Neal Katyal though. Someone you hire if you expect to go the distance.