Lawyers representing Automattic, the for-profit founded by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, sent a trademark complaint letter to WordPress developer Kevin Geary, asking him to rebrand his WordPress CSS framework, which is currently named Automatic.css, claiming that the similarity to Mullenweg’s Automattic could lead to consumer confusion.
The letter caught some in the WordPress industry by surprise, since Geary had months ago shown good-faith compliance after Mullenweg tweeted a request for Geary to place a disclaimer in the footer of Automatic.css.
Screenshot Of Mullenweg’s July 2025 Tweet To Geary
Kevin Geary
Kevin Geary is a well-liked and popular member of the WordPress developer community since 2005. He’s currently developing a WordPress page builder called EtchWP (currently in Alpha stage) and is behind the well-received CSS framework called Automatic CSS (ACSS). ACSS is a CSS framework that simplifies design consistency within a website, easiliy integrating with page builders like Bricks, Gutenberg, and Oxygen which are popular within the web design community.
A YouTube video and accompanying article from a year ago caused a stir because he documented himself trying to use WordPress’s native Block Editor and coming away from the experience with a large list of issues that need fixing.
He wrote about the Gutenberg workflow:
“Is this the “for everyone” experience? Is this the true vision of the WordPress block editor? …it’s wildly inefficient and impractical.”
Elsewhere he noted that most people are confused about what Gutenberg is supposed to be, citing results of an informal poll of his Twitter followers showing disagreement whether it’s supposed to be a page builder or not.
He concluded:
“It’s NOT for:
Beginner web developers who want to learn how to build websites.
Intermediate web developers who want to build custom websites.
Advanced web developers who want to build custom websites.
Most agencies & freelancers (unless they’re committed to building custom blocks).
I want to like it, I really do. As it stands now, though, the only viable way to use the block editor to build a custom site is with third-party tools. Native ain’t cutting it.”
All of this is to say that Geary is a passionate supporter of WordPress, even when he criticizes the block editor or the “tragedy of the commons” support model underlying WordPress.
Automattic’s Letter To Geary
Geary tweeted a copy of the letter sent to him in which Mullenweg’s lawyers asked him to rebrand his WordPress CSS framework.
Part of the letter stated:
“We represent Automattic Inc. in intellectual property matters. As you know, our client owns and operates a wide range of software brands and services, including the very popular web building and hosting platform WordPress.com. Automattic is also well-known for its longtime and extensive contributions to the WordPress system.
Our client owns many trademark registrations for its Automattic mark covering those types of services and software. As a result of our client’s extensive marketing efforts and support of the WordPress system, consumers have come to closely associate Automattic with WordPress and its related offerings.
We are writing about your use of the name and mark Automatic (sometimes with a CSS or .CSS suffix) to provide a CSS framework specifically designed for WordPress page builders. As we hope you can appreciate, our client is concerned about your use of a nearly identical name and trademark to provide closely related WordPress services. Automattic and Automatic differ by only one letter, are phonetically identical, and are marketed to many of the same people. This all enhances the potential for consumer confusion and dilution of our client’s Automattic mark.
We assume you share Automattic’s interest in ensuring that consumers are not confused or misled by the use of nearly identical names and trademarks to provide related services in the WordPress ecosystem. To protect against any such confusion or dilution, Automattic requests that you rebrand away from using Automatic or anything similar to Automattic. I suggest that we schedule a time to discuss the logistics and a mutually agreeable transition timeline for the change. Please let me know some days and times when you are available.”
Matt Mullenweg responded to Kevin Geary’s tweet by noting that he “owns” the automatic.com domain. But that’s actually a misstatement. Nobody “owns” a domain name. A domain name can only be registered.
Mullenweg’s tweet:
“We also own http://automatic.com. You had to know this was a fraught naming area.”
To which Geary responded:
“AutomaticCSS is called “automatic” because it’s the only CSS framework that does a lot of things automatically.
Congratulations on owning the domain name for a generic term. Let me know when that fact becomes relevant.”
Social Response To Automattic’s Letter
Most of the responses to Geary’s tweet were supportive although one person questioned Geary’s use of the word Automatic, tweeting:
“Why go with “AutomaticCSS” as the name though?
Options like “AutoCSS” or even “AutomatedCSS” would have been even more suitable IMHO.
It could indeed raise the question of whether there was some other motive at play. Just sharing my thoughts!”
That tweet was the outlier, most of the responses were supportive.
Simon Zeimke tweeted:
“A letter from hell. How could a generic Term be IP?”
Lee Milroy responded:
“This is absurd, a product that has been around for 4 years is all of a sudden going to create “confusion”?
Really Matt needs to do some work… like the terrible WP Dashboard experience”
WordPress Drama
Geary hasn’t tweeted about his next move, and it’s been over a week now. Many in the WordPress community would probably prefer to see the drama fade so everyone can get back to making WordPress better.
Featured Image by Shutterstock/IgorZh
