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Web hosting company WP Engine has filed an amended complaint with brow-raising new allegations in its ongoing legal battle<\/a> with WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and his company Automattic (WordPress.com\u2019s parent company). The company now claims that Mullenweg intended to target 10 different hosting companies with royalty payments for their use of the WordPress trademark and tried to get payment processor Stripe to cancel its contract with WP Engine.<\/p>\n At the heart of the dispute, Mullenweg believes WP Engine is profiting<\/a> from the open-source WordPress project without contributing back to the community, and demanded the hosting company pay 8% of its monthly gross revenues as a royalty fee for using the WordPress brand.<\/p>\n The suit, originally filed<\/a> by WP Engine in October 2024<\/a>, accused Automattic and Mullenweg of defamation and abuse of power<\/a>. Automattic filed its counterclaims<\/a> last year, alleging that the hosting company has been abusing the WordPress trademark and engaging in deceptive marketing practices.<\/p>\n In this latest filing, WP Engine has amended its complaint for the third time after gaining access to information that was uncovered during the discovery process. The information, now unredacted, had been previously sealed at Automattic\u2019s request.<\/p>\n Notably, one of the new claims accuses Automattic of allegedly planning to target 10 other competitors with royalty claims similar to those aimed at WP Engine.<\/p>\n The complaint also states that Newfold, a company whose portfolio includes hosting providers like Bluehost and HostGator, among others, is already paying Automattic for use of its trademarks and that Automattic is in conversations with others. (Names of the other hosts were redacted in the complaint, which referenced email conversations between those companies and Mullenweg.)<\/p>\n WP Engine is also alleging that Mullenweg reached out to a Stripe executive via email to pressure the company to cancel WP Engine\u2019s contract. This occurred after WP Engine had filed its lawsuit against Automattic, the complaint states.<\/p>\n The filing also challenges the 8% rate for the royalty payments as being somewhat arbitrary. Referencing Mullenweg\u2019s comments at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024<\/a>, WP Engine claims that the Automattic founder essentially came up with the rate because it was what he thought WP Engine \u201ccould afford to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n \n