WP Engine is deeply grateful to the many partners and customers who stood by WP Engine in the face of last year’s unprecedented and unwarranted attacks and attempts to disrupt our platform. 

WP Engine’s top priority has always been, and remains, the integrity, security, availability, and performance of our tools, and we will continue to take the decisive steps necessary to ensure we can continue to deliver the enterprise-grade experience we’re committed to building.

We will regularly update this post and our FAQ to ensure the community has accurate information about key developments.

Timeline of Events

October 24, 2025: WP Engine Responds to Counterclaims

WP Engine released the following statement:

WP Engine’s use of the WordPress trademark to refer to the open-source software is consistent with longstanding industry practice and fair use under settled trademark law, and we will defend against these baseless claims.

October 3, 2025: Second Amended Complaint 

WP Engine’s Second Amended Complaint includes new facts uncovered during discovery, which strengthen our antitrust and other claims.

September 12, 2025: Motion to Dismiss ruling

The Court issued a ruling that permits the majority of WP Engine’s claims, including the intentional interference, unfair competition, and defamation claims, to proceed against both Automattic and Matt Mullenweg.

WP Engine released the following statement regarding the ruling:

“We are pleased the majority of our claims are moving forward and are confident in the strength of our legal position and ability to succeed at trial.”

December 10, 2024: Preliminary injunction granted

The Court issued a ruling granting our request to restore access to and functionality of wordpress.org for WP Engine, its customers and its users. The order will bring back much-needed stability to the WordPress ecosystem. 

November 14, 2024: Amended legal complaint

WP Engine amended and expanded our initial complaint to include antitrust claims brought under laws designed to protect competition and consumers, as well as additional new claims arising from Matt Mullenweg and Automattic’s continued pattern of misconduct.

October 18, 2024: Request for preliminary injunction

WP Engine filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, requesting rapid action from the court to stop Matt Mullenweg and Automattic’s harmful actions and act to preserve the status quo ante while the case is being litigated.

October 16, 2024: Email to customers

On October 16, WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner emailed customers to address concerns about recent events and outline the actions we’ve taken to ensure platform stability and security.

The letter, which you can read here, emphasizes our commitment to protecting customers and supporting the ongoing success of the open-source WordPress community.

October 12, 2024: Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) takeover

WordPress.org took control of our ACF plugin, marking the first time in WordPress’s 21-year history that a plugin under active development was taken over without consent. The ACF team released the following statement regarding the takeover:

WP Engine continues to actively develop the genuine version of ACF, and if you have been switched to “Secure Custom Fields” without your consent, you can install ACF 6.3.8 directly from the ACF website, or follow these instructions to fix the issue.

October 7, 2024: Secure Updater plugin

We introduced the WP Engine Secure Updater plugin, which currently supports updates for all of our open-source plugins and allows us to assist other plugin or theme developers in the community on request. WP Engine also released new versions of our widely used plugins, featuring independent update capabilities and updates delivered directly from WP Engine.

October 2, 2024: Commencement of legal action against Matt Mullenweg and Automattic

WP Engine filed a complaint against Matt Mullenweg and Automattic to address their misconduct and protect our business, our customers, and our participation in the broader community. WP Engine released the following statement regarding the decision to file a lawsuit:

September 30, 2024: Plugin and theme update solution

Following interruptions to customer access to WordPress.org and instability in the services used to update WordPress websites, we deployed a solution to all sites across the WP Engine and Flywheel platforms that enabled customers to use their normal workflows and receive plugin and theme updates without relying on the WordPress.org API.

WP Engine released the following statement regarding the block and our solution:

September 27, 2024: Temporary access restored

WP Engine was given three days to develop a solution to help its customers update plugins and themes. WP Engine engineers worked around the clock on a solution for the reliability of update functionality and workflows. Their work was vital to increase resilience, reduce dependencies, and provide improved stability and protection from further disruptions. 

We released the following statement regarding our restored access:

September 25, 2024: WP Engine blocked from WordPress.org

WP Engine was blocked from accessing plugin and theme updates on the WordPress.org repository, forcing WP Engine customers to update plugins and themes manually or seek other solutions.

WP Engine released the following statement in response to the blocked access:

September 23, 2024: “Cease and desist” letter to Automattic and Matt Mullenweg

WP Engine privately sent a “cease and desist” letter to Automattic, demanding that Automattic and its CEO, Matt Mullenweg, stop making and retract false, harmful, and disparaging statements about WP Engine.

We also released the following statement regarding our letter, after Matt Mullenweg made various inaccurate statements about it:

Frequently asked questions

1. Why did WP Engine file a lawsuit against Matt and Automattic? 

  • WP Engine took legal action to protect our Company, customers, and the community of WordPress users from conduct that we believe violated the law.

2. Did WP Engine sue WordPress.org? 

  • No. WP Engine’s lawsuit is against Matt Mullenweg and Automattic. 

3. Why did WP Engine request a preliminary injunction? 

  • Given Matt Mullenweg and Automattic’s actions, WP Engine felt compelled to request a preliminary injunction.
  • The Court granted our request and brought back much-needed stability to the WordPress community. 

4. Why does WP Engine believe the counterclaims against it are baseless?

  • WP Engine’s use of the WordPress trademark to refer to the open-source software is consistent with longstanding industry practice and fair use under settled trademark law, and we will defend against these baseless claims.

5. What happened with ACF? 

  • WP Engine’s ACF plugin was taken over without our consent. 
  • The preliminary injunction issued by the Court restored WP Engine’s access to and control of ACF. 

6. What’s next? 

  • The legal case is continuing to progress through the legal system. The Court’s Motion to Dismiss ruling permits the majority of WP Engine’s claims, including the intentional interference, unfair competition, and defamation claims, to proceed.

Additional resources

● Install and Update WP Engine Owned Plugins and Themes

● All Customer email

● Cease and Desist

● Legal Complaint

● Preliminary Injunction

● WordPress Community Contributions

● Second Amended Complaint and Exhibits 


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