Um this seems pretty horrendous (from a moral PoV, no idea about legal), at the time Mullenweg apparently said
> Automattic has transferred the WordPress trademark to the WordPress
> Foundation, the nonprofit dedicated to promoting and ensuring access to WordPress and related
> open source projects in perpetuity. This means that the most central piece of WordPress’s identity,
> its name, is now fully independent from any company."
But then the complaint says:
> What Defendants’ statements and assurances did not disclose is that while they were
> publicly touting their purported good deed of moving this intellectual property away from a private
> company, and into the safe hands of a nonprofit, Defendants in fact had quietly transferred
> irrevocable, exclusive, royalty-free rights in the WordPress trademarks right back to Automattic that
very same day in 2010. This meant that far from being “independent of any company” as Defendants
> had promised, control over the WordPress trademarks effectively never left Automattic’s hands."
Again, no idea about the legality of saying you've done one thing in public, but functionally ensuring that the actual result is the opposite, but morally that's pretty gross.
Also, I saw on X earlier today, someone posted that the agreement WP Engine was being asked to agree to included verbiage that WPE would not be allowed to fork WordPress. Is not forkability one of the keys to OSS? Shady.
> Automattic has transferred the WordPress trademark to the WordPress
> Foundation, the nonprofit dedicated to promoting and ensuring access to WordPress and related
> open source projects in perpetuity. This means that the most central piece of WordPress’s identity,
> its name, is now fully independent from any company."
But then the complaint says:
> What Defendants’ statements and assurances did not disclose is that while they were
> publicly touting their purported good deed of moving this intellectual property away from a private
> company, and into the safe hands of a nonprofit, Defendants in fact had quietly transferred
> irrevocable, exclusive, royalty-free rights in the WordPress trademarks right back to Automattic that very same day in 2010. This meant that far from being “independent of any company” as Defendants
> had promised, control over the WordPress trademarks effectively never left Automattic’s hands."
Again, no idea about the legality of saying you've done one thing in public, but functionally ensuring that the actual result is the opposite, but morally that's pretty gross.