---
title: "Automattic planned to target 10 competitors with royalty fees, WP Engine claims in new filing"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/automattic-planned-to-target-10-competitors-with-royalty-fees-wp-engine-claims-in-new-filing-fohtf0pzs
source_url: https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/12/automattic-planned-to-target-10-competitors-with-royalty-fees-wp-engine-claims-in-new-filing/
type: article
source: "TechCrunch"
published: 2026-02-12T19:03:46.247Z
updated: 2026-02-12T19:04:16.102Z
tags: ["webdev", "open-source", "wordpress"]
reading_time: 3
upvotes: 0
comments: 0
language: en
---

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# Automattic planned to target 10 competitors with royalty fees, WP Engine claims in new filing

**[TechCrunch](https://daily.dev/sources/tc)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

WP Engine filed an amended complaint alleging Automattic planned to demand royalty fees from 10 hosting competitors for WordPress trademark use, not just WP Engine. The filing claims Matt Mullenweg attempted to pressure Stripe into canceling WP Engine's contract and that the 8% royalty rate was arbitrarily based on what WP Engine "could afford to pay" rather than standard licensing practices. The complaint includes aggressive internal communications from Automattic threatening to "steal customers" and wage "nuclear war" against WP Engine. Newfold (parent of Bluehost and HostGator) is reportedly already paying Automattic for trademark use.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/12/automattic-planned-to-target-10-competitors-with-royalty-fees-wp-engine-claims-in-new-filing/>

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---

Tags: [#webdev](https://daily.dev/tags/webdev), [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#wordpress](https://daily.dev/tags/wordpress)

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