WP Engine argued that these changes mooted Automattic's concerns, claiming that it, "like the rest of the WordPress community, use[s] the WordPress mark to describe our business" and that "Automattic's suggestion that WPE needs a license to do that is simply wrong, and reflects a misunderstanding of trademark law."
The WordPress Foundation, however, had already filed to trademark "Managed WordPress" and "Hosted WordPress" in July, a move that further alarmed the broader WordPress community. Developers and other service providers worried that if these trademarks were granted, they could be used against them, limiting their ability to describe their WordPress-related offerings.