Jeffro - the question I have which you and I can’t answer is why didn’t Chris take this fight all the way to the courts to really stick by what he perceived to be the right course of action

OK, let me try and answer this. Who do you think is going to be able to afford better lawyers and be more able to bear the costs of a potentially long-running lawsuit; Matt, with the assets of Automattic and the Wordpress Foundation behind him, not to mention the support of the SFLC; or Chris Pearson? I don't recall Thesis taking millions in VC funding, do you?

You have to be insanely dedicated to your principles to be willing to bankrupt yourself over them. I don't think Chris is that stupid. I also don't think he cares that much. Plus he would have needed to eliminate any code copy/pasted from WP core files to have a serious chance of prevailing in court; more time and money that would be better spent on his actual business. Looked at from a business perspective, he didn't really have a choice. Nobody likes giving in to bullying and threats, but in the real world the guy with the most money gets to call the shots.