Nick Nisi

Nabel, Eric's in there. There's some link ups. And so on September 23rd, today's the 25th, we're recording this on a Wednesday in the morning. And so on Monday, Brighton, well, Brighton Light, 5.52 p.m., WP Engine on X slash Twitter, posts today WP Engine sent what is called a cease and desist letter, blah, blah, blah, all that good stuff.

And then the chef's kiss to this was that it was a PDF from their counsel, and the PDF lives in slash WP dash content slash uploads, which was just like, yeah, right? Cool. And then I believe the response back from Automatic was September 25th or maybe the 24th. Automatic sends WP Engine its own cease and desist.

And then the chef's kiss to this was that it was a PDF from their counsel, and the PDF lives in slash WP dash content slash uploads, which was just like, yeah, right? Cool. And then I believe the response back from Automatic was September 25th or maybe the 24th. Automatic sends WP Engine its own cease and desist.

Like, hey, I'm going to cease and desist if you cease and desist over WordPress trademark infringement. And I think Matt mentioned this in his talk because I skimmed a lot of that talk. where they use the term WP. And I got to agree. I think I know because I've been in the community for a while to know that it's not WordPress official.

Like, hey, I'm going to cease and desist if you cease and desist over WordPress trademark infringement. And I think Matt mentioned this in his talk because I skimmed a lot of that talk. where they use the term WP. And I got to agree. I think I know because I've been in the community for a while to know that it's not WordPress official.

But being called WP Engine, it is pretty closely aligned to the trademark so much so that you feel like it's as official as it can be without explicitly saying between the parties this is official. You would almost assume as a Passer by user of WordPress and of such, there's many like it powers a lot of the web. It's not that these people are not smart.

But being called WP Engine, it is pretty closely aligned to the trademark so much so that you feel like it's as official as it can be without explicitly saying between the parties this is official. You would almost assume as a Passer by user of WordPress and of such, there's many like it powers a lot of the web. It's not that these people are not smart.

They just don't generally take the time to dig into some of the details that may not matter to them. And I think this may be one of those details you're like, yeah, cool. It's one of the most trusted hosting companies out there for WordPress. So it's probably pretty good. So long story short, Automatic is second on their cease and desist while WP Engine is first.

They just don't generally take the time to dig into some of the details that may not matter to them. And I think this may be one of those details you're like, yeah, cool. It's one of the most trusted hosting companies out there for WordPress. So it's probably pretty good. So long story short, Automatic is second on their cease and desist while WP Engine is first.

Yeah, we should say allegedly. Yes. Is the term that mainstream media uses. Maybe we should use that term here.

Yeah, we should say allegedly. Yes. Is the term that mainstream media uses. Maybe we should use that term here.

So I'm not a lawyer. I'll start there. And we've said the word allegedly a couple times. Enough so that what I'm about to say is allegedly true or not true. What this cease and desist from WP Engine does not share... It only shares the one side, insofar as I know. Yeah, it's their side. All the screenshots I saw were from Matt Mullenweg to the existing CEO of WP Engine.

So I'm not a lawyer. I'll start there. And we've said the word allegedly a couple times. Enough so that what I'm about to say is allegedly true or not true. What this cease and desist from WP Engine does not share... It only shares the one side, insofar as I know. Yeah, it's their side. All the screenshots I saw were from Matt Mullenweg to the existing CEO of WP Engine.

Which, part of, which you didn't mention yet, but part of the thing I think that, and I don't think this is the place you state these concerns... On Matt's side, but part of the issue he takes is that it's a private equity firm that acquired a previously more purposeful company entity called WP Engine. Like the VPN has been around for 15 years or more. I don't even know.

Which, part of, which you didn't mention yet, but part of the thing I think that, and I don't think this is the place you state these concerns... On Matt's side, but part of the issue he takes is that it's a private equity firm that acquired a previously more purposeful company entity called WP Engine. Like the VPN has been around for 15 years or more. I don't even know.

It's like it's an institution at this point to the WordPress community. It's exchanged hands or change hands has been acquired by a private equity firm that has assets managed, which to my to my taste, like it doesn't matter how much assets under management you have, but it's big. It's billions.

It's like it's an institution at this point to the WordPress community. It's exchanged hands or change hands has been acquired by a private equity firm that has assets managed, which to my to my taste, like it doesn't matter how much assets under management you have, but it's big. It's billions.

His issue that he takes in his talk is that I couldn't find the video in the title of it, but it was like private equity is eating the world of X or something like that. It's like something bad to the WordPress community. And so part of the issue is that.

His issue that he takes in his talk is that I couldn't find the video in the title of it, but it was like private equity is eating the world of X or something like that. It's like something bad to the WordPress community. And so part of the issue is that.

And so what we don't have, and to zoom back out again, is we only see in their cease and desist to Automatic slash Matt and team, or whoever this is to, their council, is the texts from Matt to them that are pretty damning, if you ask me. They're damaging. They're not... But we don't have context. We don't know what the other part of the conversation is.