Perthshire Photo Agency
Tricia Fox's small business in Scotland has been affected by the conflict between two major American companies
One of the world's largest web publishing platforms – used by much of the Internet – is caught in a conflict that is affecting thousands of businesses around the world.
Although most of WordPress's work is not seen by Internet users, it claims that its behind-the-scenes website building tools power 40% of the world's websites.
This means that its disagreement with a company called WP Engine is disruptive to the large number of businesses that rely on both organizations to run their websites.
Tricia Fox, who runs an agency that runs around 70 websites – and is caught up in the conflict – told the BBC: “I can't run a business with that level of uncertainty.”
The widespread use of WordPress makes it “crucial to the Internet”, according to Daniel Card, a member of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.
But it also means that “her actions certainly have a big ripple effect online,” he says — a ripple effect that businesses like Tricia Fox's are starting to really feel.
Line source
The conflict between the companies begins with the fact that WordPress has two sides: its non-profit organization, called WordPress.org, and its for-profit arm, called Automattic.
WordPress.org makes its code open source, meaning anyone can use it to create and redistribute their own tools for free.
This is what WP Engine does to run a web hosting service.
But in exchange for source code, WordPress expects those who use it to contribute to its maintenance, for example by fixing bugs and testing new features.
The boss of WordPress accuses WP Engine of not achieving this, going so far as to describe it as a “cancer for WordPress”.
As a result, in late September it banned WP Engine from using key elements of WordPress.
WP Engine rejects these claims.
“We are proud of our many contributions to the WordPress ecosystem,” WP Engine wrote in a post on X/Twitter.
Count the cost
In the middle of this row are the countless websites and blogs that rely on the services of both companies.
People like Tricia Fox, who uses a subsidiary of WP Engine to host the websites her company serves.
She now says she is “almost certain” to migrate her websites to another host – a move she says will be worth “tens of thousands of euros” over the next few years.
She wants to move away from WP Engine because the consequences have led to dozens of extra work hours for her staff, increasing costs for her business.
“The team doesn't know whether it's going to work today or not,” Ms Fox told the BBC.
But she fears that even a costly move away from WP Engine wouldn't solve her problems, because she would still be using another host based on WordPress code.
“What’s to stop WordPress from doing this again (to another company)? » she asks.
“At the moment we are focused on resolving our dispute with WP Engine,” WordPress said when asked by the BBC if it would go after other companies in the same way.
Web cabling
This dispute also highlights the importance of the open source principle for the online economy.
Even though big tech grabs the headlines, for many people and businesses, it's something much less eye-catching that keeps them afloat.
“Open source is about sharing code and standards so that everyone benefits, and that’s a big part of what makes the Internet work,” says Daniel Card.
And because WordPress is such a big player in this world, if it makes changes to its tools, he adds, “it's felt by users around the world and often impacts hosting, plugins and Web standards on the Internet.
WordPress
WordPress.org users must now click a box indicating that they are not affiliated with WP Engine when logging in.
Here are the lawyers
While much of the bickering between the two sides took place via official social media accounts and blog posts, it also made its way into the courtroom.
WordPress.org can't force WP Engine to contribute to its open source project – but it does control its trademarks.
He argues that WP Engine mentions WordPress in its marketing tools to help sell its product – and therefore should pay to use the brand.
“Any company that makes hundreds of millions of dollars from an open source project should give back, and if they don't, they won't be able to use their trademarks,” Mullenweg wrote in a blog post.
Trademarks don't cover the abbreviation “WP,” but the WordPress Foundation says, “please don't use it in a way that might confuse people.”
Meanwhile, WP Engine has filed a lawsuit against Mr. Mullenweg and Automattic, with accusations of attempted extortion, defamation and violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act among its complaints.
He claims Automattic told WP Engine it would have to pay “tens of millions of dollars” to continue using WordPress trademarks.
WP Engine has since requested that the legal process be expedited as its business is suffering.
Its recent filing claimed that the number of cancellation requests it received increased by 14% compared to normal trading, due to the disruption.
It said it was also losing potential new customers due to uncertainty over its future access to WordPress products.
Automattic called the lawsuit “meritless” and “flawed from start to finish.”
“We vehemently deny WP Engine’s allegations – which are gross interpretations of reality,” it said in a statement, adding that it would “vigorously pursue this absurd filing.”
