Yeah... I did this in a hurry (about 15min) before work, and HN doesn't allow edits after some time so let me complement the information.
AFAIU:
1/ The WordPress Foundation is a proper non-profit and has as mission guarantee the "open sourceness" and ensures all WordPress projects are under the GPL license.
2/ The Foundation holds the trademarks to WordPress, WordCamp, BuddyPress, WP-Cli and they define the rules of its usage.
This is relevant because part of this fight is related to WordPress licenses. Also because Matt is using both hats as CEO of Automattic and President of the Foundation to press WP Engine and this is why, as I understand, WP Engine is accusing Automattic of unfair competition.
Also the other action against WP Engine is related to the trademarks.
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On your points:
> The Foundation doesn't actually manage anything though, does it?
It does have responsibilities about the open source licenses and holds the trademarks to WordPress, plus has a team that is paid by the Foundation to seek these interests as a non-profit.
> WordPress.org is managed and owned by Mullenweg personally
Not necessarily, he did start it and is the main director, but the Foundation serves WordPress and, in theory, as a non-profit could have a different director.
> It does have responsibilities about the open source licenses and holds the trademarks to WordPress, plus has a team that is paid by the Foundation to seek these interests as a non-profit.
The Foundation hires no employees directly. Automattic sponsors some people to work on Foundation stuff.
>> WordPress.org is managed and owned by Mullenweg personally
> Not necessarily, he did start it and is the main director, but the Foundation serves WordPress and, in theory, as a non-profit could have a different director.
The WordPress.org domain and website, including the centralised plugin and theme repositories used by millions of sites, are not run by the California public benefit corporation known as the WordPress Foundation.
Instead, they are allegedly run by another of Matt's companies named Mobius Ltd.
I can't work on the allegations (nor I think it matters, it's just details on how it operates, not who is legally responsible).
But on "Automattic sponsors" that sentence is true, but not only Automattic, WordPress has more sponsors as well as voluntaries. So it is not all under Matt, even if he is the director of the Foundation.
AFAIU:
1/ The WordPress Foundation is a proper non-profit and has as mission guarantee the "open sourceness" and ensures all WordPress projects are under the GPL license.
2/ The Foundation holds the trademarks to WordPress, WordCamp, BuddyPress, WP-Cli and they define the rules of its usage.
This is relevant because part of this fight is related to WordPress licenses. Also because Matt is using both hats as CEO of Automattic and President of the Foundation to press WP Engine and this is why, as I understand, WP Engine is accusing Automattic of unfair competition.
Also the other action against WP Engine is related to the trademarks.
--
On your points:
> The Foundation doesn't actually manage anything though, does it?
It does have responsibilities about the open source licenses and holds the trademarks to WordPress, plus has a team that is paid by the Foundation to seek these interests as a non-profit.
> WordPress.org is managed and owned by Mullenweg personally
Not necessarily, he did start it and is the main director, but the Foundation serves WordPress and, in theory, as a non-profit could have a different director.