35 Responses

1. Andy

   October 24th, 2006 at 10:53 am

   1

   Can you point me to where they say they’ve made it known for some time now? I Googled a lot and didn’t find anything definitive or any ‘big official annoucement’… maybe I missed a memo.

2. David

   October 24th, 2006 at 12:06 pm

   2

   I don’t remember where exactly I saw it, but for a while there was something somewhere on the WordPress.org page that said basically “please don’t use Wordpress in your domain name…” I will look for it more but it was there.

3. monkeypup

   October 24th, 2006 at 4:36 pm

   3

   So much for my planned website: WordpressAutomattic.com

   

4. Joshua

   October 24th, 2006 at 7:59 pm

   4

   It’s right here…
   http://wordpress.org/about/domains/

5. Matt

   October 24th, 2006 at 11:04 pm

   5

   The only folks we’ve sent any notes to is products I consider spammy that we don’t want associated or using the name, whether we had a trademark or not. If someone asks me before starting something, I point them to the page on WP.org, and I’ve even offered to pay for a new domain if they’ve already registered one.

6. Blogah - Blogging News | Warning From BloggingPro: Don’t use the name “WordPress”!

   October 24th, 2006 at 11:30 pm

   6

   [...] BloggingPro has an article about the fact that “WordPress”, the name, is a trademark. The trademark owners (automattic) have and will apparantly seek to have you remove the word from your domain, weblog name etc. Not that I’m against this - but its something that must affect a lot of bloggers… [...]

7. Matthew

   October 25th, 2006 at 5:48 am

   7

   What about blogging companies that use WordPress as its core and don’t say it outright (and who even sell their blogging services), such as http://www.i.ph? Is Automattic going to go after them for violation of GPL?

8. Starked SF, Unforgiving News from the Bay » Blog Archive » Talk of the Town: Hump Day

   October 25th, 2006 at 7:22 am

   8

   [...] Automattic and trademark issues with the WordPress name. [...]

9. David

   October 25th, 2006 at 7:28 am

   9

   Thanks Joshua, and thanks Matt.

   Still sounds like the company word on this is: Don’t use Wordpress in your domain name.

10. J. Angelo Racoma

    October 25th, 2006 at 9:05 am

    10

    Now imagine the trouble if Apple decides to go after all sites named AppleXXXXX or Google with sites named GoogleXXXXXX.

11. Eric Giguere

    October 25th, 2006 at 9:53 am

    11

    Google actually goes after such sites, either by sending letters or else suspending them from participating in programs like AdSense. I’ve been there already

12. Andy Wibbels

    October 26th, 2006 at 3:13 pm

    12

    Thanks David, I found that page - I was just hoping there’d been some announcement on the company blogs or developer blogs to say ‘We registered it, here’s the suggest usage.’ Everything else they do is always so clearly communicated.

13. Andy Beard

    October 28th, 2006 at 12:21 am

    13

    I believe your post is factually incorrect

    The Automattic representitive of Wordpress worded things correctly, trademark and not registered trademark.

    Wordpress have applied for the Registered Trademark, but they haven’t been granted it yet.

    This is copied from the trademark application

    “Published for Opposition November 7, 2006″

    I recently after consultation with Matt switched my Wordpressplugins.info site to wpplugins.info.

    Full details of why are at

    http://wpplugins.info/10/wordpress-trademark-and-domain-change/

    I have been told by Matt it is ok to have WP in a domain name, and Wordpress in a subdomain.

    I would point out that I approached Matt on this issue when I first discovered their views on this, and discovered the pending tradmark registration. I agree it is good for them to defend the trademark, and that it is actually good for my business that they do.

    @ Andy - I too agree that the information wasn’t too easy to find. My domain was 1 year old, and PR5 so not as easy to just drop and restart.

14. Wordpress Trademark Scammers? at Andy Beard

    October 28th, 2006 at 7:58 pm

    14

    [...] Blogging Pro made some mistakes assuming Wordpress was a registered trademark, a mistake not made by Toni the Automattic representitive. [...]

15. Dave Zan

    November 3rd, 2006 at 7:00 am

    15

    Honestly I hope you and whoever you go after (like Sherman Hu) find a win-win situation, especially since both of you stand to benefit one another. But…I respect your position and understand, even if I don’t completely agree with it.

16. Wordpress Tutorials (business as usual) at Andy Beard

    November 15th, 2006 at 1:11 am

    16

    [...] Andy Wibbles, Kenneth Stein, Blogging Pro, The Blog Herald, Lorelle on Wordpress, Denis @ Semiologic, and of course That Girl Again @ Wordpress Wank who went through this multiple times. [...]

17. WordPress & Deception? | ComputerTech - Plexav

    January 7th, 2007 at 8:01 pm

    17

    [...] 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: I work for Automattic Inc. We run wordpress.com and we own the WordPress trademark. We have noticed that you are using the WordPress name in your [domainname.com] domain and product without our permission. We are asking you to stop using our trademark to market your [services]. Please let us know how long it will take you to change the name of your site and product. [...]

18. Jimmy Smurf

    January 8th, 2007 at 6:07 pm

    18

    As someone above observed, there are trademarks, and there are registered trademarks. Furthermore, fr there to be a violation of a (registered) mark its necessary for there to be confusion within the class where the mark is being used. Yes, the CLASS. There are many classes which are used to describe the area of commerce where the mark is being used. 38 and 42 are often associated with the internet. If the mark is not registered in one of those classes, then there is NO legal confusion between the registered mark and someone elses use of a similar mark in class 38 or 42 activities.

    Something of an example: GM is the mark of General Motors. They probably have it registered in all classes, but imagine it was registered only in the class associated with “automotive industry”. That would mean someone using “GM Foods” (as in genetically modified foods) would be pefectly free to do so because the class associated with food industry would be completely different.

    The prose above is a very brief and incomplete introduction to the complexity of trademarks and registered trademarks. Wordpress is apparently NOT a registered trademark. How long have they been using Wordpress, and how long have YOU being using Wordpress? They just might be violating YOUR trademark. You may not realize it, but simply using a word/phrase for a long time gives you certain rights, including the “trademark” right. Even if the other folks have registered their mark - if you’ve been using it in the same class of activities for eons, then you’re probably able to continue to do so.

    All of this to say that legally these issues are complicated and whats been written above shows almost utter ignorance of these issues.

19. WordPress belongs to the community | AiS.web | internet services

    March 31st, 2007 at 2:13 pm

    19

    [...] Matt Mullenweg suggests they're only hunting down spammy looking products. This sounds wonderful on paper, but it's not always easy to decide what spam is. And you may lose a trademark's protection if you enforce it inconsistently. [...]

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28. DELETE YOURSELF! » Blog Archive » Используете WordPress в имени Вашего домена? Вы попали!

    January 29th, 2008 at 6:46 am

    28

    [...] владельца торговой марки, компании Automattic. Согласно BloggingPro, началась акция “WordPress - это зарегистрированная [...]

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31. Il trademark di Joomla

    August 8th, 2008 at 1:48 am

    31

    [...] per far rimuovere la parola “WordPress” da ogni sito a lui dedicato, suggerendo (imponendo?) l’uso di “WP” al suo [...]

32. 「WordPress」をドメイン名に使えない理由 | detlog.org

    August 25th, 2008 at 8:42 am

    32

    [...] WordPress is a Registered Trademark of Automattic, Inc. [...]

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