[tcfunk]

As someone only familiar with WP at the surface level, I had assumed that WP Engine actually was affiliated with WP, so it seems to me the market confusion is certainly intentional.

[codegeek]

No it is not. If you have remotely worked with WordPress at any level, you know that WPEngine has nothing to do with the WordPress company Automattic. I have worked with WP for 10+ years now and in my opinion like many others, this is nothing but jealously from Matt whose for profit competitor (wordpress.com and VIP) got beaten by WPEngine.

In fact, you know what confuses regular users ? wordpress.org vs wordpress.com.

I will not comment on any legalities of course but the fact remains that WPEngine is not doing anything different than all the others for profit WordPress providers except 1 thing. Guess what that is ? They make more revenue than WordPress.com.

[flutas]

> In fact, you know what confuses regular users ? wordpress.org vs wordpress.com.

Yup, it's mentioned by others in this thread but I was also confused by this for a small period before doing further research early in the .COM beginning.

[DangitBobby]

Who do you think is more likely to look for someone to host WordPress for them? Someone who knows everything and can do it themselves anyway?

> If you have remotely worked with WordPress at any level, you know that WPEngine has nothing to do with the WordPress company Automattic.

Obviously YOU know because YOU have worked with WordPress for over 10 years now.

[Aurornis]

WordPress.com has hosting services. It’s one of the first things anyone runs into when searching for WordPress hosting. It’s hard to mistake it for anything other than the official affiliated hosting provider.

They’ve had the Wordpress.org and .com distinction for a long time. You can’t miss it if you’re searching for Wordpress things online.

I don’t think you can blame a Wordpress hosting service for using WP in their name, given that doing so has respected the nature of the Wordpress/WP distinction that they’ve had going for years. Something is very off about this recent attack on WP Engine and the released text messages show that Mullenweg is not the noble guy he’s been portrayed as for years.

[mattbeck]

For many years, the official guidance on the trademark has explicitly been that WP was not the trademark and people should use that instead of WordPress. Tons and tons of people use WP in their businesses, domains, product names, etc.

[teddyh]

And, as it turns out, consumer confusion happened anyway.

[kijin]

But WPEngine is toeing the line especially precariously.

The company is called WPEngine, sure, but their tagline says "Most trusted WordPress platform". Their plans are named "Essential WordPress", "Core WordPress", etc. Are those products they're selling, or just descriptions? There's enough gray area there to attract a lawyer's attention, which Mullenweg is clearly using to his advantage.

[kolanos]

If their name was "Wordpress Engine", I think you'd have a point. But I don't think the use of "WP" has the same implication. Why would Wordpress proper abbreviate their own name like that?