Federal judge slaps down Automattic, granting temporary injunction to WP Engine in ongoing WordPress squabble

One open source executive read the judge’s decision and said he was concerned that the ruling might have come too late to halt the damage done to the open source community.

“WP Engine wins a battle, but everyone continues to lose the war. WP Engine has had (about a) 15% increase in cancellations in the last few months, and 159 WordPress employees have quit. No doubt these distractions will negatively impact the innovation and evolution of the WordPress solution for months, if not years to come. It’s not hyperbole to say 40% of the internet is and will be losing in some way,” said Michael Sonier, general manager at ButterCMS.

“As a 20-year-old technology, WP remained ubiquitous because of its ecosystem, but now it’s turned on its own. Hard not to see this accelerating the adoption of technologies that are 20 years younger,” he noted. “More broadly, it sets back the open source movement, which was always about community, collaboration, and contribution. Now it’s going to be associated with potential legal battles, finger pointing, and volatility.”