WP Engine is asking a court to end Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg's public campaign against the company. In a motion for 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 assumed.
In the filing, WP Engine claims it faces “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 26 to September 30, just days after Mullenweg called WP Engine a “cancer” on the WordPress community.
WP Engine requests that Automattic restore operations to the “status quo as it existed before” the start of its dispute. “Developers are anxious and want to be assured that they will not be the next to receive another extortionate demand from Mullenweg, nor become the next target of a nuclear war, nor be the next to suffer the expropriation of their add-ons,” it reads. in the motion. “Defendants' clumsy takeover attempts are increasing the security risk for everyone in the WordPress community.”
The edge He contacted Automattic for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
