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Spurlock Yablon should get props for standing up to the Man. The WP ecosystem benefits from the core platform it rallies around, and as a result, benefits from it. But it’s a symbiotic relationship in that the foundation (and Automattic) benefits from as well (it benefits the most, apparently). His sites clearly, unambiguously, unmistakably state non-affiliation with the foundation or Automattic and the like, and does not purport to be Wordpress itself, but a site that supports it. Sure, he stands to benefit from it (all claims to not profiting from it notwithstanding), and likely already is, given all this publicity (no such thing as negative publicity, hey?). But putting out a GPL-licensed, open source product and profiting as a commercial entity (valued at more than a billion dollars no less) and throwing this under the aegis of the “foundation” is in bad taste at best. That he has Wordpress the name in the domain has never been the issue (Wordpress SEO by Yoast being a clear example), save only that Yablon stood up to try and put a kibosh on their filing, is why the foundation used this retaliatory option. Wonder how Linus Torvalds would feel for all the sites that carry his baby’s name. You can’t blame the foundation for trying to skirt the issue by attacking Yablon elsewhere and doing it with this lawsuit, but Yablon has firm ground to stand on. TL;DR. “There’s no APPLICABLE trademark.” Wordpress in this case isn’t harmed by Yablon’s use. Technically or not it’s within the spirit of fair use. It’s their fault it took them this long to file the trademark and have someone block/dispute it.
Spurlock
Yablon should get props for standing up to the Man. The WP ecosystem benefits from the core platform it rallies around, and as a result, benefits from it. But it’s a symbiotic relationship in that the foundation (and Automattic) benefits from as well (it benefits the most, apparently).
His sites clearly, unambiguously, unmistakably state non-affiliation with the foundation or Automattic and the like, and does not purport to be Wordpress itself, but a site that supports it. Sure, he stands to benefit from it (all claims to not profiting from it notwithstanding), and likely already is, given all this publicity (no such thing as negative publicity, hey?). But putting out a GPL-licensed, open source product and profiting as a commercial entity (valued at more than a billion dollars no less) and throwing this under the aegis of the “foundation” is in bad taste at best.
That he has Wordpress the name in the domain has never been the issue (Wordpress SEO by Yoast being a clear example), save only that Yablon stood up to try and put a kibosh on their filing, is why the foundation used this retaliatory option. Wonder how Linus Torvalds would feel for all the sites that carry his baby’s name.
You can’t blame the foundation for trying to skirt the issue by attacking Yablon elsewhere and doing it with this lawsuit, but Yablon has firm ground to stand on.
TL;DR. “There’s no APPLICABLE trademark.” Wordpress in this case isn’t harmed by Yablon’s use. Technically or not it’s within the spirit of fair use. It’s their fault it took them this long to file the trademark and have someone block/dispute it.
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