AUTOMATTIC DEMANDED A CUT OF WP ENGINE'S REVENUE BEFORE STARTING WORDPRESS BATTLE

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

Automattic asked WP Engine to hand over 8% of its revenue each month in a deal sent on September 20. WP Engine was given the choice to pay the 8% cut as a royalty fee to Automattic or as salaries for WP Engine employees who would contribute to the WordPress.org open-source project. It didn't accept the proposal as it believes that its use of the WordPress trademark and 'WP' abbreviations meet fair use guidelines. Automattic says that the main issue is over trademarks, not the use of open source software.