Court Grants WP Engine Preliminary Injunction Against Automattic

Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the Northern California District Court has granted WP Engine’s motion for a preliminary injunction against Automattic and Matt Mullenweg. The ruling follows a November 26, 2024, hearing where the judge expressed an inclination to approve WP Engine’s request for injunction. Both parties were directed to collaborate on a stipulated order, but having failed to reach an agreement, they submitted competing proposals on December 2, 2024.

The Court directed Automattic and Matt Mullenweg to immediately stop:

Blocking or interfering with WP Engine’s access to WordPress.org.

Disrupting WP Engine’s control over its plugins hosted on WordPress.org.

Interfering with WP Engine-related WordPress installations via unauthorized auto-migration or updates.

Also within 72 hours, Automattic and Matt must:

Remove WP Engine customer data from the “domains.csv” file on the WP Engine Tracker website.

Restore WP Engine’s WordPress.org access, including employee login credentials, to the state of September 20, 2024.

Remove the mandatory checkbox on the WordPress.org login page.

Reinstate WP Engine’s access to the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin.

In granting the injunction, the Court evaluated the four Winter elements.

Success on the Merits: The Court found that WPEngine is likely to succeed on the merits of its intentional interference with contractual relations claim and Automattic’s arguments do not compel a different conclusion.

Irreparable Harm: The court determined that WP Engine’s evidence of harm, including the loss of a $40,000 client contract, was persuasive. Defendants countered with four arguments but “None is persuasive.” The court accepted that WPEngine will suffer irreparable harm without preliminary injunctive relief.

Balance of Equities: Banning WP Engine from accessing WordPress.org, taking over ACF plugin, and the additional burdens imposed on WPEngine’s customers demonstrates that WPEngine has a significant interest in obtaining preliminary injunctive relief and Automattic’s arguments in opposition do not establish that they will suffer any damage that overrides WPEngine’s interest in obtaining relief. Thus the balance of hardships tips in favor of WP Engine.

Public Interest: The court said the public consequences of withholding injunctive relief are significant as Mullenweg himself acknowledges that more than 40% of all websites run on WordPress. Those who depend on WordPress’s stability should not be forced to endure the uncertainty, financial losses, and increased operational costs arising from the ongoing dispute between the parties. Thus, “the final Winter element – the public interest – weighs in favor of granting preliminary injunctive relief.”

The Court accepted WP Engine’s claims of irreparable harm, citing losses of existing and potential customers, damage to customer relationships, market share erosion, harm to goodwill and reputation, and broader negative impacts on the WordPress community.

WP Engine told the court that the company experienced a 14% increase in the average number of daily cancellation requests between September 26 and 30, and an increase of 17% in cancellation requests between October 1 and October 14, as compared to September 1 through September 25. The Court concluded that WP Engine would suffer irreparable harm without injunctive relief.

The Court also declined to require WPEngine to post a bond as “the Court finds that any harm to Defendants resulting from the issuance of preliminary injunctive relief is unlikely, as it merely requires them to revert to business as usual as of September 20, 2024.”

Automattic responded to the ruling on Twitter, “Today’s ruling is a preliminary order designed to maintain the status quo. It was made without the benefit of discovery, our motion to dismiss, or the counterclaims we will be filing against WP Engine shortly. We look forward to prevailing at trial as we continue to protect the open source ecosystem during full-fact discovery and a full review of the merits.”

WP Engine also tweeted, “We are grateful that the court has granted our motion for a preliminary injunction that restores access to and functionality of wordpressdotorg for WP Engine, its customers and its users. This ruling provides much-needed stability for the WordPress ecosystem. We deeply appreciate our customers for their continued trust and support. We remain committed to serving them and their sites with the performance, availability and integrity they deserve while collaborating to ensure a vigorous, thriving and stable WordPress community.”

The ruling does not mention anything about the “Secure Custom Fields” (https://wordpress.org/plugins/secure-custom-fields/) plugin that WordPress.org released with ACF Pro features.

The preliminary injunction is effective immediately and will remain in place until a final judgment is issued after the trial.