Looks like the team at Automattic has transmitted ‘cease and desist’ emails to web sites having ‘wordpress’ in the domain name. How do I know this? It was the first story on my WP dashboard this morning! Seems as though Lorelle on WP felt compelled to speak on behalf of the WP developers. She cited a story at Blogging Pro that quotes from a cease and desist email apparently sent from someone at Automattic, Inc. The email was first quoted on Andy Wibbel’s blog and it reads:
Before we consider some potential implications of the email, I’d first like to ask whether or not Lorelle VanFossen was authorized by Automattic to publish her latest blog entry at Lorelle on WordPress. In it she writes:
She isn’t listed as an employee of Automattic, so how can she make such a pronouncement? Is she an authorized agent for Automattic?
Why do I ask? Read on!
To answer that question, we first require some background information. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. A service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.
The trademarks and servicemarks that Automattic is pursuing are posted at The US Patent & Trademark Office website, which provides the following:
Automattic, Inc., has filed two trademark applications on “Wordpress” in association with “[D]ownloadable software program for use in design and managing content on a website.” One application covers the word, “wordpress” and the other application covers the stylized “W” in the circle with the underlined word “wordpress” positioned next to it.
Automattic, Inc., has filed two service mark applications on “Wordpress” in association with “[S]oftware solutions, namely providing use of on-line non-downloadable software for use in enabling Internet publishing.” One application covers the word, “wordpress” and the other application covers the stylized “W” in the circle with the underlined word “wordpress” positioned next to it.
Ok, now that we’ve got an idea of the marks that they claim to own, let’s take a look at what Automattic might have to show if they plan on enforcing their claimed rights to these marks.
Infringement depends upon whether two marks are sufficiently alike so as to cause consumer confusion as to their source or origin? More specifically, infringement depends upon whether a substantial number of ordinarily prudent purchasers are likely to be misled or confused as to the source of the different products or services. Actual confusion is not necessary, just a substantial likelihood of confusion.
Have you figured out why Lorelle’s blog entry is important to Automattic yet??
Lorelle has the blog name “Lorelle on WordPress.” Additionally, her blog resides at Lorelle.WordPress.com. If she was authorized by Automattic (Note: if the guys at Automattic decide what appears on the dashboard, then it seems there was implicit authorization), then Automattic itself relied on the “WordPress” in her blog’s name and in her domain name to help make their argument that ordinarily prudent consumers will take it as an “official” pronouncement!
Get it? includes “WordPress” and those with a blog name that includes it. As far as I can tell, Lorelle VanFossen is not affiliated with Automattic in a representative capacity and as such, her blog entry is a ruse.
What I find confusing has nothing to do with the trademarks. What’s confusing is whether Lorelle was in fact authorized, or supervised by Automattic? Of course, it’s simply a theory. So I’ll simply ask….
Check back to see if we’ve gotten a response from Lorelle!
And later, we’ll be looking to answer the question: Could Automattic Lose the WordPress Marks Alltogether?
Lorelle writes her own stuff, she has no connection with Automattic besides I like her blog.
All we’re asking is that people not use wordpress in their domain name, and we’ve used the trademark to go after scammers who were selling snake oil products and implying an association or endorsement with WordPress.
Matt,
She might write her “own stuff,” but the question I have is whether anyone from Automattic reviewed her entry about the trademark and/or co-wrote it with her. You didn’t answer the question. That’s telling.
Perhaps we could clear all this up with an interview. Instead of communicating through comments. If you’d be ameniable, let me know and we can set something up.
Sorry I thought I answered the question.
No one from Automattic reviewed her entry, or wrote it with her, or edited it, or sent subliminal messages in the WordPress interface suggesting she write anything.
I’m happy to do an interview, send me the questions via email and I’ll reply in a day or two.
Regardless of whether Lorelle’s post was officially commissioned or sanctioned by Automattic, its appearance in the Dashboard of thousands of users makes it look official. I don’t think this really registers with Matt. I think he takes it for granted that all WP users already know that the Dashboard feeds are a selection of posts by him and his friends syndicated for the purpose of boosting traffic to their blogs, and are not an official source of information about Wordpress.
That’s a big assumption to make and I have no idea how accurate it is. Probably most people who care enough about Wordpress development to read the Dashboard are aware of its status, but I’m sure there are some people out there assuming that Lorelle’s on staff.
You’re spot on Wank.
One of my design clients, who I’d installed WP for, assumed that “all those little boxes in [his] admin panel” were official WordPress News, but was a little unsettled because he saw some links to entries of a personal nature and thought something was wrong. I can understand his assumption because of the “Other WordPress News” text just above them. I promptly informed him otherwise, and removed the feeds leaving only the WP Dev Blog feed.
Point is, not everyone who just starts with WordPress will have someone to explain that those boxes aren’t official news stories/sources sanctioned by the WP team or Automattic.
IMO, and only my opinion, the dev blog feed should be the only one there by default, especially for the less WP savvy/newbie users, or create an official WP news blog that’s moderated. No one starts out as a WPFanBoy(orGirl) from jump and those feeds in the dashboard can be confusing unless there’s a very clear explanation of what there are, right there next to them.