- WP Engine says Automattic went after 10 other companies for royalties
- Stripe was approached to end its WP Engine contract, the hosting platform alleges
- Automattic says this is just an attempt to revive old complaints that have been dismissed
WP Engine has filed a third update to its complaint against Automattic and CEO Matt Mullenweg, focusing on the WordPress trademark and whether WP Engine contributes enough to the open source platform.
Mullenweg had previously demanded 8% of WP Engine’s monthly gross revenue as a royalty to use the WordPress brand on the basis that it wasn’t giving enough to the open source platform, but WP Engine sued with allegations of abuse of power.
The latest update claims Mullenweg had also planned to target 10 other hosting companies with similar royalty demands.
WP Engine updates its complaint against Automattic
“WP Engine’s Third Amended Complaint contains newly unredacted information uncovered during discovery which had been previously sealed at the request of the Defendants,” the hosting company wrote in a blog update.
The complaint says that Newfold Digital is already paying Automattic for trademark use – names of the other companies were redacted.
WP Engine even alleges that Mullenweg had tried to pressure Stripe into cancelling WP Engine’s payment processing contract after the lawsuit was filed.
In response, Automattic says the renewed filing is just an attempt to repackage old allegations, and that it’s confident the courts will reject them. “There is nothing new here. This is the same narrative WP Engine has been pushing for over a year, and the Court has already dismissed many of its central claims,” an Automattic spokesperson added.
In November 2025, WP Engine filed to dismiss counterclaims issued by Automattic, Matt Mullenweg, the WordPress Foundation and WooCommerce.
Previous updates include “new facts uncovered during discovery” in a second amendment and antitrust claims in a first amendment.
“The Court’s Motion to Dismiss ruling permits the majority of WP Engine’s claims, including the intentional interference, unfair competition, and defamation claims, to proceed,” WP Engine added.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jShHytzgXpisqwvcR5wiDo-970-80.jpg
Source link
