WP engines VS WordPress: WP engine files an injunction to get WordPress.org access
WP Engine has filed an Injunction in court, asking it to intervene and restore its WordPress.org access, after filing a lawsuit against CEO Matt Mullenweg and Automattic last month.
Web Hosting provider WP Engine has filed an injunction in court in Northern California, asking them to restore its access to WordPress.org open-source repository. In a Preliminary Injunction filed against Automattic and CEO Matt Mullenweg, the WP Engine requests the court to restore its access to WordPress resources and permit WP Engine to regain control of its plug-in that had been taken over.
Why has WP Engine filed an Injunction?
After WP Engine filed a lawsuit against WordPress co-creators Automattic and Matt Mullenweg last month, CEO Matt Mullenweg, owner of WordPress.org, has blocked the company’s (WP Engine) access to their open- source project. WP Engine filed the lawsuit against Matt Mullenweg and Automattic, accusing them of abuse of power, extortion and greed.
With the latest filing, WP Seeks to restore the “status quo as it existed prior to September 20,2024” in terms of the company’s access to the open-source repository. The company added to extend its protections to the affiliates, partners, employes, users, and customers.
“WPE respectfully requests that the Court issue a preliminary injunction restoring and preserving the status quo as it existed prior to Defendants’ wrongful actions described above. The preliminary injunction requires no security because returning the situation to the status quo will have no negative effect on Defendants,” the court filing read.
Actions taken by Matt Mullenweg:
It also meant that WP Engine couldn’t update its Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plug-in, which is used to create and customize their edit screens. Earlier this month WordPress to control of Advanced Control Fields (ACF), citing developer guidelines which provides them control to change plug-in without the developer’s consent for the sake of public security. Matt Mullenweg, earlier this month, added a new checkbox in the WordPress.org contributor login, to verify from people that they were not associated with WP Engine in any way.
After this, Advanced Control Fields (ACF) users on WordPress.org received an update that migrated them to “forked” Secure Control Fields plugin controlled by WordPress.org. WordPress.org has since published a promotional page dedicated to customers looking to switch away from WP Engine, while Automattic upped its buyout offer for employees who don’t agree with CEO Matt Mullenweg’s actions.
Impact of Mullenweg’s Action on WP Engine:
In the latest filing, WP Engine claims about facing continuous loss as per the result of Matt Mullenweg and Automattic’s public campaign against WP Engine. These multiple forms of irreparable loss include decline in customers, shares and goodwill of the company. The company states it saw a 14 percent increase in cancellation requests from September 26th to the 30th — just days after CEO Matt Mullenweg called WP Engine a “Cancer” to the WordPress community.
