[that_guy_iain]

>If I understand it correctly, the core of the dispute is trademark and that WPEngine somehow implies WordPress affiliation.

No, the core of the dispute is Matt wants either money from WP Engine or for them to contribute to WordPress. He's using the trademark as leverage. However, their usage of WordPress does not imply affiliation instead saying stuff "We bring WordPress to the masses".

The use of WP in their name was them actually following WordPress' trademark policy where they asked people not to use WordPress in their names but WP.