WordPress.com owner Automattic Inc. and its CEO failed to dismiss defamation and fraud claims brought by a software developer accusing them of leveraging trademark law to extort tens of millions of dollars.
A federal judge refused to nixWPEngine Inc.'s claims based on CEO Matthew Mullenweg statements calling the company’s product “chopped up, hacked, butchered.” The comments could be interpreted as facts or protected opinions, Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin said in an order issued Sept. 12 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
WPEngine sued Automattic and Mullenweg in October, alleging they started a “nuclear” war the prior ...
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