> The abbreviation “WP” is not covered by the WordPress trademarks, but please don’t use it in a way that confuses people. For example, many people think WP Engine is “WordPress Engine” and officially associated with WordPress, which it’s not. They have never once even donated to the WordPress Foundation, despite making billions of revenue on top of WordPress.
This goes with my view that Matt is technically correct almost all the time, which is the best kind of correct. https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/909991-futurama
Thanks to that, I normally find consistency in what he says. The forking post about FreeWP makes sense.
Especially because there is some amount of joking in both freewp.com and the post. I like how Matt refers to him as a former WordPress community member.
In fact, Matt shoots himself in the foot. You don't become a billion dollar company overnight. Zero to thousands. Thousands to hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of thousands to millions. Silence all the way. But billions and it becomes a copyright violation??
That's so ridiculous that only the stupid or the insane would believe it. Or both.
But this isn't about copyright. It's Matt looking for revenue and then manufacturing a flimsy excuse to demand money. Up to recently most of the WP Community drank the MM Kool Aid. That's not the case any more.
Copyright can’t be extinguished by common use. Trademarks can.
- strength/distinctiveness of plaintiff trademark;
- proximity/competitiveness of plaintiff and defendant’s business;
- comparative quality of plaintiff and defendant’s products;
- evidence that the imitative trademark was adopted in bad faith; and
- sophistication of consumers in relevant markets, and evidence of confusion.
Source: https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/blog/trademark-litigation-1...
IDK, some of those read as if you can't wake up one morning and then decide you've been violated.
For example, if WP Engine acted in bad faith, why was it bad faith in 2024, but not prior? It's difficult to argue bad faith when you watched - and enabled? - a company to go from zero to "billions".
If fact, that lens applies to most of this list. These conditions existed all along and MM & Co was silent.
On the other hand look at Apple (Computers) and Apple (Records). Once Apple Computer enter the mmusic market they had to negotiate with Apple Records because Apple Music's change in direction would cause confusion in the market.
Extinguish? Maybe not. But if you don't defend your trademark your argument for violation dilutes more and more as time goes on, true? "Billions" feels like a long time. "Billions" - and how MM went about it - feels very much like a "trademark troll".
Even if he wins the battle. He's lost the war. The community no longer trusts and respects him.