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Mary Hubbard New Executive Director of Wordpress.org

wordpress.org

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Re: Mary Hubbard New Executive Director of Wordpress.org

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wordpress.org isn't a legal entity. It's simply a domain owned by Matt. Automattic's website ( https://automattic.com/2024/10/02/wordpress-trademarks-a-leg... ) says otherwise: > The Foundation also licensed the name WordPress to the non-profit WordPress.org, which runs a website that facilitates access to WordPress-related software.

The article has been updated. > The Foundation also licensed the name to the website WordPress.org, which facilitates widespread access to WordPress-related software at no charge.

[deleted]

Re: Mary Hubbard New Executive Director of Wordpress.org

#82
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given how poorly written that article is (and how he has no control of his client), its not clear that Neil is actually a real lawyer

Despite our sometimes fervent wishes, lawyers don't control clients. We are not puppeteers.

If lawyers only had perfect clients, they wouldn’t have clients.

(Analogously, If software engineers only worked for perfect companies, companies wouldn’t have software engineers.)

Re: Mary Hubbard New Executive Director of Wordpress.org

#83

At this point, I am not even sure what Wordpress.org is anymore other than a marketing department for Automattic. It's hard to know if this is a real position with real people reporting to it or if the entire org is a paper department.

IMO that is why .org was not named in the lawsuit - it is simply an alter ego of MM

Re: Mary Hubbard New Executive Director of Wordpress.org

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WordPress.org seems to be used to refer to Matt Mullenweg [1], as he apparently personally owns it, though one of Automattic's lawyers said last week that it is a non-profit that is separate from the WordPress Foundation [2]. The previous Executive Director of WordPress was also an Automattic employee. When they were announced in the role their employment with Automattic also wasn't disclosed [3]. [1] https://www.plu…

All the information in the links you shared is totally wrong. Our lawyers have never said that WordPress.org is a non-profit or owned by the Foundation. It's owned and run by me personally, and I have a trademark license from the WordPress Foundation to use the WordPress name and brand on the site.

And therein lies absolutely 0 conflict of interest :) /s

Re: Mary Hubbard New Executive Director of Wordpress.org

#85

At this point, I am not even sure what Wordpress.org is anymore other than a marketing department for Automattic. It's hard to know if this is a real position with real people reporting to it or if the entire org is a paper department.

wp.org is owned by Matt, so basically WordPress.org is Matt

Re: Mary Hubbard New Executive Director of Wordpress.org

#86
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neil, Thanks for participating. I have an honest question: How do you reconcile your post [0] claiming that Automattic controls all commercial aspects of the trademark with Matt's previous claim that "the most central piece of WordPress’s identity, its name, is now fully independent from any company" and that Automattic had "give[n] up control" of the marks? [1] [0] https://automattic.com/2024/10/02/wordpress-tradema…

I appreciate the question and it deserves a lengthier blog post reply that I will work on and share. In the interim, some brief thoughts on the topic that may be relevant. The WordPress community operates on an open source, non-commercial basis. The community decides what is included in each release of WordPress, how it's tested, what documentation accompanies it, etc. Because the WordPress Foundation, not Automattic…

In your article, you explain that Automattic has given all trademark rights to the foundation and has been given a license for commercial usage. That would mean that A8C can use and enforce the license in commercial contexts according to the terms set forth in the licensing agreement with the foundation, correct? But, in my understanding, that would not actually confer *ownership" back to Automattic, it would grant a license to use according to agreed upon terms, that could, as Matt himself explained in one of the Youtube interviews, be taken away from Automattic if the foundation would no longer consider Automattic a suitable guardian (I think that's the term he used) of the trademark.

Is this correct?

Could the foundation actually legally revoke Automattic's commercial rights? If so, what would be the requirements for that to happen? Are the foundations legal statutes available anywhere?

Thanks!

Re: Mary Hubbard New Executive Director of Wordpress.org

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would think an attorney of all people would be more careful with their words, especially with terms like "non-profit".

Sorry that even attorneys can have typos.

Its been almost a week, what correction would you like to make to this? You've been dodging and the community deserves honest answers.
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