[pushedx]

IANAL, but the only expressly illegal thing that they seem to have done is maintain the "acf" tag, and used the "advanced-custom-fields" URL, which could be trademark violations.

I'm sure there are other laws that are relevant here related to deception and misuse of the subscription to the plugin updates by the 2 million users involved.

Legal issues aside, this is an extreme erosion in trust for any user of the WordPress.org platform. They can no longer have confidence that their commerical (or non-commerical) plugin won't be chopped up and have its users stolen at any moment.

[CRConrad]

> Legal issues aside, this is an extreme erosion in trust for any user of the WordPress.org platform. They can no longer have confidence that their commerical (or non-commerical) plugin won't be chopped up and have its users stolen at any moment.

Not just the plug-in creators, but those (“stolen”) plug-in users, too. There is an example in TFA, the guy who had to update many (150, IIRC?) of his customers’ sites after the plug-in was switched out from under him.

[ycombinatrix]

I don't remember this scene in The Force Awakens

[CRConrad]

Standard HN jargon, "The Fff...ine Article".