Filed: WP Engine Inc. v Automattic Inc. and Matthew Charles Mullenweg [pdf]

Post by metamichael » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:18 AM UTC

lolinder wrote: post #59

photomatt wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Silver Lake and WPE's legal attacks may impact my ability to provide free services on WordPress.org in the future, especially things like Slack or forums that are grounds for discovery. I hope not, though. Going to fight this with everything I have.

> Going to fight this with everything I have. Your chance to do that was before you threw a grenade into the WordPress ecosystem and injured hundreds of thousands of innocent WordPress developers over a {trademark|giving back|general bad vibes} dispute. No one here is buying your attempts to pawn responsibility for your actions off onto WP Engine. They may have legitimately been the bad guys until a month ago, but yo…

Post by initplus » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:22 AM UTC

dmix wrote: post #256

csa wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sadly, instead of supporting open source with $5 million, they each will spend 10 million on lawyers. I think both sides more or less see this as a case of standing up against a bully — they may lose out in the short run (in terms of money), but they think that they will discourage future bullying by fighting back. I’m not sure if either side is right, but that’s why they both drew a line in the sand, imho.

Ignoring the executive drama (on both sides) it is in bad taste to build WPEngine off an Open Source project and barely contribute back to it. It's probably a case where their version is so heavily customized they don't spend much time on the fundamentals. But still. I wonder if that had a petty rationale as well. Relationships are important in business.

Post by moonmagick » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:23 AM UTC

photomatt wrote: post #92

wging wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what page 35 says at all. Check out page 36: > 92. Mullenweg’s premise was false, as WPE’s CEO had never interviewed with or negotiated a job offer with Automattic. To the contrary, back in 2022 Automattic had asked if she would be interested in running wordpress.com, but she politely declined. (edit: I have no idea who is right, but it's just not correct to read page 35 as saying that)

She was interviewing November 2023 to January 2024. She declined the WordPress.org role on January 26, 2024. I even invited her to my 40th birthday on Jan 11, another text message she decided not to share.

Post by pensatoio » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:25 AM UTC

photomatt wrote: post #150

spellsaidwrong wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question you need to ask yourself is whether you _should_ talk to journalists during a legal matter, instead of trying to fight the court of public opinion.

I'm very comfortable with the truth of everything being public, it's on our side. The legal case will drag out for years.

Post by moonmagick » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:26 AM UTC

photomatt wrote: post #96

aimazon wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"she wanted to be the Executive Director of WordPress.org for Automattic" But you own and run and finance WordPress.org personally, as you've revealed and talked about numerous times in the last few weeks. I don't follow, how can Heather apply for a job with Automattic to be the Executive Director of a website you personally own?

Automattic employs ~100 people that work full-time on WordPress.org. I can appoint them into positions on WordPress.org, if I think that's appropriate.