The problem with a lot of the crap being slung in Matt/Automattic's direction seems to be stemming from the fact that the trademark cancellation action Automattic brought is being looked at as a tit-for-tat revenge thing when it is part of a much larger, overall dispute with how trademark law works in the US as opposed to copyright law. Trademarks require active defense where as copyright protections exist from the moment the work is in "fixed form" until, IIRC, 75 years after the creator's death.

Chris is required, by law, to defend his trademarks or else he loses them. Period. So he cannot be blamed for initiating the action. If he let it slide, he risked having his trademark cancelled. Although on a personal note I think a trademark on "thesis" is just too generic versus "thesis theme" but that's just me.

One also cannot fault Automattic for defending itself the way it did either. It's like how victims of patent trolls go after the patents being used against them.

Honestly though, I really wish this drama would die, staked through the heart, buried, and sealed in concrete. It does no one any good to sit in one of the dark corners of the Internet chewing livers over this. It's time to just let it go. It's unnecessary drama at this point and serves no real purpose. Both Matt and Chris should just let this go. Let Drupal take over the drama spectacle.