WP Engine Fights for Restoration: Opens Legal Battle against WordPress.org

In a recent development, web hosting provider WP Engine has sought court intervention to restore its access to WordPress.org's open source repository. The move comes after WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg, also the owner of WordPress.org, barred WP Engine from accessing the open source project following a lawsuit filed by WP Engine recently in Northern California.

Consequently, WP Engine was unable to update its Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plug-in, critical for customising their edit screens.

WordPress took over ACF and forked it earlier this month for public safety reasons, justifying it with developer guidelines that permit such actions without developer consent. WP Engine, in its latest filing, urges the court to revert the scenario to what it was before 20th September 2024, noting that this will bear no negative impact on the defendants. The company also called for the extension of these protections to its stakeholders, including affiliates, employees, partners, users, and customers.

Adding to the tussle, Mullenweg had asked contributors logging in to WordPress.org to confirm that they had no association with WP Engine. WP Engine's CEO, Heather Brunner claimed that she had believed WordPress.org was connected with or owned by the nonprofit WordPress Foundation. 

However, Automattic, the parent organisation of WordPress.com, categorically denies WP Engine's assertions, labelling them as a gross misinterpretation of reality.

- CyberBeat