WP
Engine
is
asking
a
court
to
put
a
stop
to
Automattic
CEO
Matt
Mullenweg’s
public
campaign
against
the
company.
In
a
motion
for
a
preliminary
injunction
filed
against
Automattic
and
Mullenweg
on
Friday,
the
third-party
hosting
platform
requests
that
the
court
restore
its
access
to
WordPress
resources
and
allow
it
to
regain
control
of
its
plugin
that
had
been
taken
over.
In
the
filing,
WP
Engine
claims
it’s
facing
“multiple
forms
of
immediate
irreparable
harm”
as
a
result
of
Mullenweg
and
Automattic’s
actions,
including
“loss
of
customers,
market
share
and
goodwill.”
The
company
also
says
it
saw
a
14
percent
increase
in
cancellation
requests
from
September
26th
to
the
30th
—
just
days
after
Mullenweg
called
WP
Engine
a
“cancer”
to
the
WordPress
community.
WP
Engine
asks
that
Automattic
restore
operations
to
the
“status
quo
as
it
existed
prior”
to
the
start
of
its
dispute.
“Developers
are
anxious
and
want
assurance
they
will
not
be
next
to
receive
another
extortionate
demand
from
Mullenweg,
become
his
next
target
of
nuclear
war,
or
next
to
have
their
plug-ins
expropriated,”
the
motion
reads.
“Defendants’
ham-fisted
takeover
attempts
are
increasing
the
security
risk
for
everyone
in
the
WordPress
community.”
The
Verge
reached
out
to
Automattic
with
a
request
for
comment
but
didn’t
immediately
hear
back.
Mullenweg
has
only
escalated
his
fight
with
WP
Engine
after
publicly
calling
out
the
service
and
claiming
that
it’s
infringing
on
WordPress
trademarks.
After
Automattic
and
WP
Engine
exchanged
cease
and
desist
orders,
WP
Engine
filed
a
lawsuit
against
Automattic
and
Mullenweg,
accusing
them
of
“abuse
of
power,
extortion,
and
greed.”
Last
week,
the
open-source
WordPress.org
project,
which
is
also
led
by
Mullenweg,
took
over
WP
Engine’s
ACF
—
or
Advance
Custom
Fields
—
plugin.
ACF
users
on
WordPress.org
received
an
“update”
that
migrated
them
to
a
“forked”
Secure
Custom
Fields
plugin
controlled
by
WordPress.
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
Mullenweg’s
actions.
(Originally posted by Emma Roth)
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