A California district court judge has ruled in favour of WP Engine, mandating that Automattic and its CEO, Matt Mullenweg, restore the hosting provider’s access to WordPress.org. The preliminary injunction, issued Tuesday by Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin, marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing conflict between the two entities.
The ruling compels Automattic to reinstate WP Engine’s access to WordPress.org’s themes, plugins, and subdomains to the state they were in on September 20, reports TechCrunch. This date precedes a high-profile public dispute initiated by Mullenweg, who described WP Engine as a “cancer to WordPress” during an event. Shortly after that, WP Engine was banned from accessing WordPress.org’s ecosystem.
The conflict escalated into a lawsuit filed by WP Engine, accusing Automattic and Mullenweg of extortion and abuse of power. Central to the case was WP Engine’s inability to access and update its Advanced Custom Field (ACF) plugin, a widely used tool for customising WordPress websites.
Automatic had assumed control of the plugin, rebranding it as Secure Custom Fields (SCF) and restricting WP Engine’s involvement. Over 159 Automattic employees left the company over a disagreement with CEO Mullenweg. Automattic then offered a new nine-month buyout package to the remaining employees who wanted to leave.
The current injunction requires Automattic to return WP Engine’s access and control over ACF on WordPress.org. Additionally, Automattic must dismantle a website listing WP Engine customers who purportedly switched to other platforms following Mullenweg’s campaign.
The company was also ordered to remove a controversial checkbox from its login page that required users to affirm that they were not affiliated with WP Engine.
Mullenweg has publicly criticised WP Engine for its insufficient contributions to the open-source project. This case has sparked broader discussions about the responsibilities and expectations of companies that profit from open-source communities.
Automattic has called the ruling preliminary and vowed to continue its legal defence. On the other hand, WP Engine welcomed the decision and expressed relief and optimism.
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