<\/p>
WP Engine recently filed its third amended complaint against WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and Automattic, which includes newly s allegations that Mullenweg identified ten companies to pursue for licensing fees and contacted a Stripe executive in an effort to persuade Stripe to cancel contracts and partnerships with WPE.<\/p>
The defendants argued that Mullenweg did not use the phrase \u201cnuclear war.\u201d However, documents they produced show that he used the phrase in a message describing his response to WP Engine if it did not comply with his demands.<\/p>
The footnote states:<\/em><\/p> \u201cDuring the recent hearing before this Court, Defendants represented that \u201cwe have seen over and over again \u2018nuclear war\u2019 in quotes,\u201d but Mullenweg \u201cdidn\u2019t say it\u201d and it \u201c[d]idn\u2019t happen.\u201d August 28, 2025 Hrg. Tr. at 33. According to Defendants\u2019 counsel, Mullenweg instead only \u201crefers to nuclear,\u201d not \u201cnuclear war.\u201d\u201d<\/p> While WPE alleges that both threats are abhorrent and wrongful, reflecting a distinction without a difference, documents recently produced by Defendants confirm that in a September 13, 2024 message sent shortly before Defendants launched their campaign against WPE, Mullenweg declared \u201cfor example with WPE . . . [i]f that doesn\u2019t resolve well it\u2019ll look like all-out nuclear war[.]\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> Another newly unredacted detail is an email from Matt Mullenweg to a Stripe executive in which he asked Stripe to \u201ccancel any contracts or partnerships with WP Engine.\u201d Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform that enables companies to accept credit card payments online.<\/p> The new information appears in the third amended complaint:<\/em><\/p> \u201cIn a further effort to inflict harm upon WPE and the market, Defendants secretly sought to strongarm Stripe into ceasing any business dealings with WPE. Shocking documents Defendants recently produced in discovery reveal that in mid-October 2024, just days after WPE brought this lawsuit, Mullenweg emailed a Stripe senior executive, insisting that Stripe \u201ccancel any contracts or partnerships with WP Engine,\u201d and threatening, \u201c[i]f you chose not to do so, we should exit our contracts.\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> In paragraphs 200 and 202, WP Engine alleges that Defendants acknowledged having the power to \u201cdestroy all competition\u201d and were seeking contributions that benefited Automattic rather than the WordPress.org community. WPE argues that Mullenweg abused his roles as the head of a nonprofit foundation, the owner of critical \u201cdot-org\u201d infrastructure, and the CEO of a for-profit competitor, Automattic.<\/p> These paragraphs appear intended to support WP Engine\u2019s claim that the \u201cFive for the Future\u201d program and other community-oriented initiatives were used as leverage to pressure competitors into funding Automattic\u2019s commercial interests. The complaint asserts that only a monopolist could make such demands and successfully coerce competitors in this manner.<\/p> Here are the paragraphs:<\/em><\/p> \u201cIndeed, in documents recently produced by Defendants, they shockingly acknowledge that they have the power to \u201cdestroy all competition\u201d and would inflict that harm upon market participants unless they capitulated to Defendants\u2019 extortionate demands.\u201d<\/p> \u201c\u2026Defendants\u2019 monopoly power is so overwhelming that, while claiming they are interested in encouraging their competitors to \u201ccontribute to the community,\u201d internal documents recently produced by Defendants reveal the truth\u2014that they are engaged in an anticompetitive campaign to coerce their competitors to \u201ccontribute to Automattic.\u201d Only a monopolist could possibly make such demands, and coerce their competitors to meet them, as has occurred here.\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> Additional paragraphs allege that internal documents contradict the defendants\u2019 claim that their trademark enforcement is legitimate by acknowledging that certain WordPress hosts were already receiving the same benefits for free.<\/p> The new paragraph states:<\/em><\/p> \u201cContradicting Defendants\u2019 current claim that their enforcement of supposed trademarks is legitimate, Defendants conceded internally that \u201cany Tier 1 host (WPE for example)\u201d would \u201cpushback\u201d on agreeing to a purported trademark license because \u201cthey get the same thing today for free. They\u2019ve never paid for [the WordPress] trademarks and won\u2019t want to pay \u2026\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> Paragraphs 211, 214, and 215 cite internal correspondence that WP Engine alleges reflects an intention to enforce compliance using a \u201ccarrot\u201d or \u201cstick\u201d approach. The complaint uses this language to support its claims of market power and exclusionary conduct, which form the basis of its coercion and monopolization allegations under the Sherman Act.<\/p> Paragraph 211:<\/em><\/p> \u201cGiven their market power, Defendants expected to be able to enforce compliance, whether with a \u201ccarrot\u201d or a \u201cstick.\u201d\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> Paragraph 214<\/em><\/p> \u201cDefendants\u2019 internal discussions further reveal that if market participants did not acquiesce to the price increases via a partnership with a purported trademark license component, then \u201cthey are fair game\u201d and Defendants would start stealing their sites, thereby effectively eliminating those competitors. As Defendants\u2019 internal correspondence states, \u201cif they don\u2019t take the carrot we\u2019ll give them the stick.\u201d\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> Paragraph 215:<\/em><\/p> \u201cAs part of their scheme, Defendants initially categorized particular market participants as follows: Paragraphs 218, 219, and 220 serve to:<\/em><\/p> WP Engine argues that these allegations show the demands extended beyond WPE and were part of a broader pattern.<\/p> The complaint cites internal documents produced by Defendants in which Mullenweg claimed he had \u201cshield[ed]\u201d a competitor \u201cfrom directly competitive actions,\u201d which WP Engine cites as evidence that Defendants had and exercised the ability to influence competitive conditions through these arrangements.<\/p> In those same internal documents, proposed payments were described as \u201cnot going to work,\u201d which the complaint uses to argue that the payment amounts were not standardized but could be increased at Defendants\u2019 insistence.<\/p> Here are the paragraphs:<\/em><\/p> \u201c218. Ultimately, WPE was the public example of the \u201cstick\u201d part of Defendants\u2019 \u201ctrademark license\u201d demand. But while WPE decided to stand and fight by refusing Defendants\u2019 ransom demand, Defendants\u2019 list included at least ten other competitors that they planned to target with similar demands to pay Defendants\u2019 bounty.<\/p> 219. Indeed, based on documents that Defendants have recently produced in discovery, other competitors such as Newfold and [REDACTED] are paying Defendants exorbitant sums as part of deals that include \u201cthe use of\u201d Defendants\u2019 trademarks.<\/p> 220. Regarding [REDACTED], in internal documents produced by Defendants, [REDACTED] confirmed that \u201c[t]he money we\u2019re sending from the hosting page is going to you directly\u201d.<\/p> In return, Mullenweg claimed he apparently \u201cshield[ed]\u201d [REDACTED] \u201cfrom directly competitive actions from a number of places[.]\u201d.<\/p> Mullenweg further criticized the level of contributions for the month of August 2024, claiming \u201cI\u2019d need 3 years of that to get a new Earthroamer\u201d.<\/p> Confronted with Mullenweg\u2019s demand for more, [REDACTED] described itself as \u201cthe smallest fish,\u201d suggesting that Mullenweg \u201ccan get more money from other companies,\u201d and asking whether [REDACTED] was \u201cthe only ones you\u2019re asking to make this change\u201d in an apparent reference to \u201cwhatever trademark guidelines you send over\u201d.<\/p> Mullenweg responded \u201cnope[.]\u201d. Later, on November 26, 2024\u2014the same day this Court held the preliminary injunction hearing\u2014Mullenweg told [REDACTED] that its proposed \u201cmonthly payment of [REDACTED] and contributions to wordpress.org were not \u201cgoing to work,\u201d and wished it \u201c[b]est of luck\u201d in resisting Defendants\u2019 higher demands.\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> Much of the previously redacted material is presented to support WP Engine\u2019s antitrust claims, including statements that Defendants had the power to \u201cdestroy all competition.\u201d What happens next is up to the judge.<\/p> Featured Image by Shutterstock\/Kues<\/em><\/p> <\/div> News,WordPress#Engine #Complaint #Adds #Unredacted #Allegations #Mullenweg #Plan #sejournal #martinibuster1770890026<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WP Engine recently filed its third amended complaint against WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and Automattic, which includes newly s allegations that Mullenweg identified ten companies to pursue for licensing fees and contacted a Stripe executive in an effort to persuade Stripe to cancel contracts and partnerships with WPE. Mullenweg And \u201cNuclear War\u201d The defendants argued […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[740,11118,11116,4122,415,11119,1386,80,11117],"class_list":["post-3363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accessibility","tag-adds","tag-allegations","tag-complaint","tag-engine","tag-martinibuster","tag-mullenweg","tag-plan","tag-sejournal","tag-unredacted"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Email From Matt Mullenweg To A Stripe Executive<\/h2>
\u201cDestroy All Competition\u201d<\/h2>
\u201cThey Get The Same Thing Today For Free\u201d<\/h2>
\u201cIf They Don\u2019t Take The Carrot We\u2019ll Give Them The Stick\u201d<\/h2>
\u2022 \u201cWe have friends (like Newfold) who pay us a lot of money. We want to nurture and value these relationships.\u201d
\u2022 \u201cWe have would-be friends (like WP Engine) who are mostly good citizens within the WP ecosystem but don\u2019t directly contribute to Automattic. We hope to change this.\u201d
\u2022 \u201cAnd then there are the charlatans ( and ) who don\u2019t contribute. The charlatans are free game, and we should steal every single WP site that they host.\u201d\u201d<\/p> <\/blockquote> Plan To Target At Least Ten Competitors<\/h2>
WP Engine Versus Mullenweg And Automattic<\/h2>