WordPress Foundation bid for greater trademark control halted, adding to more legal setbacks for CEO Matt Mullenweg

Unprotected.org successfully petitions USPTO against the application for Hosted WordPress and Managed WordPress
However this is not an absolute denial for the trademarks
Move leads some to call Matt Mullenweg’s WordPress leadership into question

Since September 2024, WordPress, led by Matthew Mullenweg, has been locked in a battle with WP Engine over licensing and contributions to the WordPress community.

So far, the battle has seen Mullenweg block WP Engine from open source resources, followed by a court order that required WP Engine’s access to be reinstated and restrictions to developers removed.

As part of a wider effort to control how hosts can use the WordPress name, the WordPress Foundation also attempted to trademark ‘Hosted WordPress’ and ‘Managed WordPress,’ but the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has required disclaimers for both terms in an initial setback for Mullenweg.

Is Mullenweg doing more harm than good for WordPress?

The attacks on WP Engine and trademark expansion efforts left many hosts wondering about the future of their WordPress hosting products and possible backlash from the WordPress Foundation over trademark infringements of the open-source software.

While this initial disclaimer request gives some relief to hosts it is not a denial and the term Hosted WordPress has already been granted in some counties. If the trademarks are granted it gives more control to the WordPress Foundation on which web hosting providers they can give licenses to for the use of the phrases.

The WordPress drama has caused many to question whether Mullenweg’s actions are damaging rather than strengthening the WordPress community. Since the attack on WP Engine, 159 Automatic (a company run by Mullenweg) employees have left because they disagree with his leadership.

The requested disclaimer on the trademarks was filed by Unprotected.org, a website critical on Mullenweg.

A spokesperson from the site told The Register, “This represents a great victory for the WordPress ecosystem, and we will continue to fight until there is accountability and a change in leadership.”

The spokesperson added, “The WordPress ecosystem is ready for new leadership, and Joost de Valk, the developer of Yoast SEO, is the first who comes to mind.”

De Valk has previously called for the decentralisation of WordPress around Mullenweg and to create a federated and independent WordPress. In a blog post he said, “We, the WordPress community, need to decide if we’re ok being led by a single person who controls everything, and might do things we disagree with, or if we want something else. For a project whose tagline is “Democratizing publishing”, we’ve been very low on exactly that: democracy.”

In response, Mullenwag banned De Valk from sponsoring and attending any WordPress events. WordPress currently powers over 43% of the world’s websites but as web hosts develop their own website builders and uncertainty around the stability of WordPress grows we may see that number start to decline.

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