I can see Matt’s point of view. Data transfer fees are expensive, especially at WordPress scale. Automattic probably covers a lot of that cost that wordpress.org is incurring and wants WP Engine to pay their fair share.

WP Engine also seems to do some other “not in good faith” things such as change the woocommmerce Stripe attribution from wordpress.org to their own Stripe account.

While the legal dispute is on trademark, I think it’s really on WP Engine profiting on wordpress.org without giving back. It’s not illegal, but blacklisting WP Engine isn’t illegal either.

Automattic is essentially subsidizing a private equity backed company. I’d be upset and frustrated too if I was in Matt’s position.

If you support WP Engine, you’re supporting Silver Lake Private Equity.