[FireBeyond]

And what is more sad is that it really appears that the WordPress figurehead is to blame.

Matt has made so many unforced errors in the last month, in addition to revealing, one way or another, that he basically considers WordPress, the .org, the .com, the Foundation, and Automattic, all to be synonymous, which is news to a significant portion of the community, let alone to the incorporation and other founding filings.

[marpstar]

He's completely unhinged. The threats that he made that are outlined in this document... how is this NOT extortion? Any lawyers around?

[lolinder]

He claimed in an interview there's context to the texts that makes it look better, but he hasn't actually released that context, just said that it exists and he wishes WP Engine would [0]. I'm having a hard time imagining context that would make this not extortion, and if there really is context that makes it better I'm unsure why he's not releasing it himself. He's certainly not gone into no-comment-on-legal-matters mode, so his silence there speaks volumes to me.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUJgahHjAKU

[photomatt]

What would you like me to answer? I haven't doxxed any private texts from other parties like they have. I've only been releasing things I've said or sent.

[aimazon]

https://automattic.com/2024/10/01/wpe-terms/

"May 2024 May 30: Automattic shares first term sheet with WP Engine via email."

Share the term sheet that you sent to WPEngine in May. The lawsuit suggests that this term sheet is to do with a (now cancelled) partnership between WPEngine and Automattic in regards to WooCommerce. Your blog post suggests that it's a term sheet regarding WPEngine paying the 8% trademark fee for WordPress. You can significantly undermine WPEngine's argument by proving that you presented a WordPress trademark licensing term sheet to them months ago.

[photomatt]

Sure, it was a few text messages at the end of a months-long negotiation about a licensing deal. We posted the timeline and the final term sheet here: https://automattic.com/2024/10/01/wpe-terms/

WP Engine's business is built on violating the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks, 8% is typical for a franchise fee. They confuse customers in the marketplace who think they're official WordPress.

If you watch this stream with Theo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUJgahHjAKU

He polls his audience and 54% of the thousand people watching thought WP Engine was an official thing, based on visiting their website that day. They have since updated their website a lot, including rewriting customer testimonial quotes without permission:

https://x.com/photomatt/status/1841644271939604628

[lolinder]

If you offer someone a contract, they stall for a few months, and you show up at their house with gasoline and a match and threaten to burn their house down if they don't agree to sign the contract, you're guilty of extortion.

The context you need to share isn't that there exists a document that you wanted to sign and that they knew existed before you made the threats, the context you need to share (Edit: in court, you should really shut up here for your own good) is context that makes those texts not look like threats to drag their name through the mud in a massive smear campaign if they didn't agree to sign.

No one here is disputing that you might have been in the right until September. It's your actions in September that you need to account for.

[itslennysfault]

That's a weird analogy. It'd be more like your natural gas provider trying to negotiate a deal and then when you don't reach an agreement they turn off the valve to your house.

[nickff]

>” If you offer someone a contract, they stall for a few months, and you show up at their house with gasoline and a match and threaten to burn their house down if they don't agree to sign the contract, you're guilty of extortion.”

This analogy seems tangential, and I don’t think it supports the rest of your post.

[wise_young_man]

Matt why are you only targeting them? Trademark must be defended against all not just one. Do you really believe they are the only ones? Are you going to go after everyone next?

Respectfully given the timing of waiting over a decade to use the trademark approach, I think your actions are going to destroy everything you worked hard to create. I hope you soon reflect on the domino effect this will have in time.

[mthoms]

>8% is typical for a franchise fee

Matt you literally got that figure from a random person on Twitter early today. Remember? You re-tweeted it.

https://x.com/sandro_groganz/status/1841437394236489874

https://imgur.com/a/L9OrWct

Please get a lawyer.

[JimDabell]

> 8% is typical for a franchise fee

I see many WordPress hosts use these trademarks in the same way WP Engine does.

How many of them are paying this typical 8% of monthly revenue fee?

[mthoms]

The source for that figure is literally "random person on twitter".

I'm not even joking. Matt reposted it earlier today.

https://x.com/sandro_groganz/status/1841437394236489874

[photomatt]

Other hosts have contributed significantly to WordPress.org and Automattic over the years, in a variety of arrangements. None have abused the WordPress and WooCommerce trademark as much as WP Engine has, hence our C&D against them.

[cdolan]

Narrator: Zero

Source: Matt

[rideontime]

I was there for that stream; I'd suggest others watch the chat replay before deciding whether the results of any poll taken during that stream are credible.

[MikeDVB]

I have to wonder how many people that voted even know what WordPress is or even use it. It’s easy to click a button on the screen to vote one way or another during a stream while being completely uninformed.

Sure it’s in use by a large portion of websites (43% I think I saw last) but that doesn’t mean that 43% of people know what WordPress is.

That stream wasn’t on a WordPress-centric channel.

[patmcc]

>>>WP Engine's business is built on violating the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks, 8% is typical for a franchise fee. They confuse customers in the marketplace who think they're official WordPress.

You make three claims here, I'm honestly not sure about the 1st and 3rd, but can you go into more detail about 8% being typical? For what kind of franchise?

If a local mechanic claims to be a "Volkswagen expert", do you think they're paying 8% back to Volkswagen?

[ipaddr]

A new car dealership pays 3-8% back to their parent company plus a 1-2% marketing fee, upto 500,000 as an initial fee. They get logo rights and inventory.

If this wasn't open source they could ask for those fees but they decided to give away their software with an open license. Without that license they would have never grown into what they became. But Matt sees another company doing well and he gets jealous and demands a piece of their success and goes postal when he doesn't get his way.

I think he needs to step away from wordpress.org because the conflict of interest is too great.

[JimDabell]

Didn’t you give their CEO’s phone number to somebody who interviewed you? That seems like a clear breach of privacy to me.

[FireBeyond]

> I haven't doxxed any private texts from other parties like they have

You did share their CEO's personal phone number to The Primagen though, did you not?

[rodgerd]

He's Temu Elon Musk: https://mashable.com/article/tumblr-transphobia-matt-mullenw...