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A brief history of WordPress

Published by Richard Best

Many have written accounts of the birth and growth of WordPress. For example, there’s a punchy timeline in the WordPress codex, an interesting 10 year visual history on WPMU DEV and interesting posts on WPExplorer, WPBeginner and Kinsta WordPress Hosting. An even richer account is likely to be released soon, as certain WordPress aficionados are currently writing “a new book about the history of WordPress drawing on dozens of interviews with the original folks involved and extensive research”.

For the purposes of this blog, I don’t need to explore the history of WordPress in the same level of detail (and it’s best that I leave that to the historians and others). It does help, though, to set out a few key points about WordPress’s development as well as the nature and roles of Automattic Inc and the WordPress Foundation. They help one understand the origins of the WordPress software, the legal structure around WordPress and its licensing, the relationship between WordPress and WordPress.com and the relevance of the WordPress Foundation. In addition, the origin of the WordPress software is relevant to some of the spats I mentioned in My WordPress story, whilst the legal structure around WordPress and its licensing is relevant to a range of significant issues that have excited debate within the WordPress community (topics I’ll address in later posts).

From 2003 to 2014

As explained on WordPress.org, “WordPress was born out of a desire for an elegant, well-architectured personal publishing system built on PHP and MySQL and licensed under the GPLv2 (or later)”. Significantly, it was the official successor of b2/cafelog, so let’s start there.

b2/cafelog was launched in 2001 by Michel Valdrighi. It was described as a “classy news/weblog tool (aka logware)” that worked like this:

“You type something and hit ‘blog this’ and in the next second it’s on your page(s). You can write extended entries, or even entries that span multiple pages. You can also use BloggerAPI clients to post to your b2 weblog.

What’s original in b2? Pages are generated dynamically from the MySQL database, so no clumsy ‘rebuilding’ is involved. It also means faster search/display capabilities, and the ability to serve your news in different ‘templates’ without any hassle.”

Sounds familiar right?

In 2003 Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little forked b2 and created WordPress: the beginning of a beautiful thing that in time would come to power up to 23% of the world’s websites. Since 2003, we have seen (among many other things) introduction of the WordPress plugin architecture (2004), introduction of the theme system and static pages (2005), widgets, tagging and pretty URLs (2007), several new and improved user interfaces (2007-2014), custom post types and multisite (2010), post formats (2011), the theme customiser and previewer (2012), built-in audio and video support and improved security measures (2013) and live widget and header previews (2014). In a nutshell, WordPress just keeps getting better and better. And let’s not forget about the WordPress codex: it contains an incredible amount of useful support documentation across all manner of topics.

WordPress and the GPL

Like b2/cafelog, WordPress is (and had to be) licensed under the GPL (the well-known acronym for the “GNU General Public License”). Its codebase has been developed and contributed to by a wide range of developers around the world, meaning that no single person or company owns the WordPress software that is available on WordPress.org. It is perhaps as open source as open source can be.

I’ll have more to say about WordPress and the GPL in later posts.

Automattic Inc

In 2005, Matt Mullenweg and others founded Automattic Inc. According to a SiliconBeat article at the time, Matt wanted “to launch a company that could provide the necessary clout and support for the WordPress software and the newer WordPress.com [platform]” that provides free hosting for WordPress sites as well as a range of paid upgrades and business offerings. Today Matt describes Automattic as “the secret force behind WordPress.com, Akismet, Gravatar, VaultPress, IntenseDebate, Polldaddy, and more”.

As I’ll discuss in more detail in a later article, Automattic also registered a range of WordPress-related trademarks. As noted above, though, it doesn’t own the copyright in all the code that comprises WordPress as we know it today. The software is community owned, whilst Automattic is the commercial vehicle through which Matt and many others support and leverage WordPress, with its most well-known business being the WordPress.com platform. (I don’t propose, in this post, to go into the differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com but, for those interested in the subject, I recommend WPMU Dev’s WordPress.org vs WordPress.com: A Definitive Guide For 2014.)

The WordPress Foundation

The other point to note in relation to legal structure is that, a number of years ago now, Matt founded the WordPress Foundation, “a charitable organization … to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software”. The Foundation went public in January 2010. Its website describes its raison d’être as follows:

“The point of the foundation is to ensure free access, in perpetuity, to the software projects we support. People and businesses may come and go, so it is important to ensure that the source code for these projects will survive beyond the current contributor base, that we may create a stable platform for web publishing for generations to come. As part of this mission, the Foundation will be responsible for protecting the WordPress, WordCamp, and related trademarks. A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the WordPress Foundation will also pursue a charter to educate the public about WordPress and related open source software.”

(I’ll say a bit more about the reference to trademarks in a later post.)

Wrapping it all up

So that’s it for my brief history of WordPress. In a nutshell, WordPress was a fork of b2/cafelog and, like b2/cafelog, is licensed under the GPL. It has evolved dramatically since its humble beginnings in 2003, so much so that it now powers up to an incredible 23% of the web. Matt and others founded and operate Automattic Inc to support the WordPress software, WordPress.com and other ventures and Matt founded the WordPress Foundation, a non-profit organisation, to further the WordPress mission and protect WordPress for future generations. As I said in my opening post, thank you.

(Thanks to Tom Marcello for his image of Dexter Gordon and Benny Bailey from 1977, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic licence.)

Why legal stuff matters

Published by Richard Best

For some people, thinking about legal stuff may not be at the forefront of their minds when they’re developing, designing, launching or adding content to a WordPress website or developing and releasing a theme or plugin. I suspect it’s also not at the forefront of the minds of some people who launch commercial theme and plugin shops, release WordPress ebooks, produce WordPress podcasts, and so on. It’s easy to get caught in the moment and the excitement of developing, writing or releasing something new. I know what that’s like. Just as a lawyer building a website may pay little attention to something that a developer would consider crucial, so too can developers, designers, bloggers and entrepreneurs pay little attention to things that lawyers consider important if not crucial.  And, of course, in some cases people want to do what’s right or in their commercial interests but just don’t know what the relevant laws are or how they apply.

The legal stuff does matter

There are various reasons for sticking to the right side of the law and being mindful of legal issues that may help or hinder you depending on how you approach them. But what do I mean by “law”? Let’s break it down. When I refer to law here, I’m usually referring to one or more of the following areas of law:

  • Contract law: Depending on your situation, contract law and the content of your contractual arrangements can affect the rights and obligations you may have with WordPress developers, designers, web hosts, commercial theme and plugin providers, support shops like codeable and WerkPress, Automattic Inc (if you use WordPress.com, VaultPress or the like) and any other person or organisation with whom you may transact for the purchase or supply of a WordPress-related (or other) product or service.
  • Copyright law: In many if not most countries, copyright law is statutory in nature, meaning the rules that govern copyright are set out in one or more pieces of legislation. Copyright law is relevant to a range of WordPress-related activity, including the intellectual property provisions of contracts you may have with developers, designers or customers; terms of use that you may wish to add to a commercially oriented WordPress website; software (e.g., WordPress, theme and plugin) licensing permissions and obligations (including compliance with the GPL); and the content that you add to your website (including text, images, audio and video), whether it’s your own content or content you license or otherwise obtain from other sources.
  • Tort law: Without getting into the niceties, tort law is essentially the law of non-contractual civil wrongs. The content of tort law depends on each country’s laws. In many countries (most notably those with common law legal systems) torts are the creation of the courts; in some countries some torts have been partially or fully codified in legislation; and in other countries, such as certain countries in Europe with civil law legal systems, the equivalent of torts are set out in legislation. In general terms, if A commits a tort against B, B usually has a cause of action (right of complaint) against A for which it can seek remedies in court, such as damages or an injunction (an injunction is an order requiring the defendant to stop doing something). Examples of torts relevant to online activity are defamation, negligent misstatement, deceit and injurious falsehood, breach of privacy or confidentiality and intentional infliction of emotional harm. I should stress that, as with other areas of law I’m mentioning, these torts are not at all specific to WordPress itself or your use of WordPress in particular. In the present context, they generally relate to the nature of your site content. The same issues could arise with any publication through any medium. I mention them, though, because they are relevant to an assessment of site content and consideration of site content is relevant to the broad subject matter of this blog.
  • Privacy law: To the extent relevant here, privacy law relates to the content you obtain and publish where that content includes information about individuals, that is, personal information. It can also affect what you do, for example, with the information you may have on customers or clients. Privacy law, or data protection law as it’s commonly referred to in Europe, is increasingly important and is increasingly coming under the spotlight in the context of online activity. The key point, in very simple terms, is that you need to be careful how you handle and what you do with the personal information you may collect or that is otherwise provided to you. Depending on the laws that may apply to you given the countries in which you live or do business, this can apply to both individuals and organisations alike.
  • Anti-spam law: Anti-spam laws are becoming increasingly common around the world and are invariably statutory, that is, the rules are set out in legislation. They are another set of laws to bear in mind when ‘cold calling’ people via the likes of email or text messages (which some WordPress businesses might do), creating email lists and sending emails to list members (which WordPress plugins and third party services that integrate with WordPress make very easy these days) and using plugins that enable you to send text messages to people’s mobile phones.
  • Consumer protection and trade law: Aspects of consumer protection and trade law can be relevant to the way in which WordPress businesses conduct themselves and market and sell their products and services. In some counties it is important, for example, for businesses not to act in a misleading or deceptive manner, e.g., by making misleadings statements in trade on your website or as to the nature, features or functionality of a theme or plugin, for example, that you may be selling. In countries that have ‘fair trading’ style laws, such conduct could invite intervention by regulators or give affected consumers a statutory right of action against you. (Such conduct might also have contractual consequences, e.g., enabling an affected consumer to get out of a contract by which he or she would otherwise be bound.) And some countries have laws or regulatory guidelines which require you to disclose that an affiliate link is in fact an affiliate link.

Other areas of law may crop up from time to time as well. (When they do, I’ll try to mention them.)

Ultimately, keeping on the right side of the law and taking legal issues into account that may affect you or your business is desirable not only for peace of mind but to enable you to avoid legal problems, protect your assets and reputation, obtain the rights you may need, and safeguard your time and resources (having to clean up legal problems after the event can drain them). The last thing you need is having to spend precious time and hard-earned money getting out of a legal bind or obtaining rights that you might have already obtained if you’d taken relevant issues into account at the outset.

I’m not giving legal advice in this blog but I do hope to be able to help WordPress users and businesses keep on the right side of the law and take legal issues into account that may affect them or their businesses. And as I said in the previous post, let me know if you have any questions.

My WordPress story

Published by Richard Best

How is it that a lawyer becomes wrapped up in WordPress? What makes a lawyer explore legal issues that can arise through application of the open source licence that governs its use? What makes a lawyer want to analyse a range of legal issues that can arise through personal and commercial publishing using the world’s most favoured CMS? The answer is simple: a maturing passion for WordPress. Yes I’m a lawyer (sounds like a confession doesn’t it) but I’m also a keen WordPress user and have been for a long time. I thought I’d tell my story to enable readers of WP and Legal Stuff to understand how this all came to pass.

Blogging and RSS fever

I have vivid memories of coming across blogging and RSS in 2004. I was working in Frankfurt, Germany, having transferred there from London, England (and I’d transferred there some time earlier from Wellington, New Zealand). For some reason, the freedom and immediacy of personal publishing and the distributive power of RSS captured my imagination, so much so that they wouldn’t let go.

I was a lawyer at the time (as I still am), which I guess makes my story a little unusual, at least back then. Back then, in 2004, few lawyers had heard about blogging and the mere mention of RSS would make most lawyers’ eyes glaze over. I was working in a large international law firm, where promoting one’s legal knowledge and expertise was an important element of the firm’s marketing strategy, but getting an article published involved a lawyer, a marketing department and the techies who managed the firm’s website. My colleagues were friendly and talented people but the number of heads involved in getting an article out the door was mind-boggling and meant inevitable delay and inefficiency.

I could see blogging and RSS being powerful tools for lawyers. I wanted to write about it but I was concerned that my firm might disapprove. Being a newish father with a young family, I didn’t really want to rock the boat. That may sound strange now but, back then, there were very few lawyers publishing their own content online on blogs separate from their employers’ main websites. There was a handful in the United States but very few in Europe and certainly none in the larger law firms.

Feedmelegal and Pharmablawg

So in September 2004 I decided to start blogging anonymously through a blog I called feedmelegal. I started off using Typepad. I wanted to “add another voice to those lauding the potential benefits of [weblogs, webfeeds and related technology], but purely in the context of the practice of law and the sharing of legal knowledge with clients, potential clients and, to some extent, the public generally; and to suggest how such technology [could] be put to advantageous, competitive and ethical use by, among others, lawyers and their clients.” From that point forward, I started blogging about blogging and RSS, with topics such as “The significance of webfeeds for lawyers”, “Weblogs: A primer for lawyers”, “Legal weblogs/webfeeds: Which international law firm will deploy first?” and “Blogging and legal risk”. I kept this going until November 2005 which was shortly after my second child was born and shortly before we moved from one country to another. In the meantime, in around February 2005 I’d started another blog, this time using Squarespace, on pharmaceutical legal issues, called Pharmablawg (I know… that ‘blawg’ word never really took off…).

My discovery of WordPress

It was after using Typepad and Squarespace that I got stuck into WordPress in earnest. I’d discovered WordPress in 2004 or 2005 but it wasn’t until late 2005/early 2006 that I kept reading about WordPress and discovered how easy it was to set up your own installation of WordPress and how flexible, even back then, the software was.

Almost every site I’ve built since then has used WordPress. They include a legal news aggregation site, a lawyers’ association website, a charity website, barristers’ websites and websites for my own and others’ development and marketing. I’ve even built an online contract generator using WordPress and Gravity Forms (that particular generator produces HTML output) and I’ve built another one using a combination of WordPress, Gravity Forms, Zapier and WebMerge (that one produces fully formatted Word output). (I’ll write a post about that in the future.)

I’ve benefited from the generosity of the WordPress community, attended WordCamps, purchased many commercial themes (the first being one of Brian Gardner’s Revolution themes) and plugins, learned a bit of HTML and CSS along the way, listened to hundreds of WordPress-relevant podcast episodes and paid developers to tweak sites and build plugins for me. I followed WooThemes’ development closely, was a fortunate early purchaser of a lifetime developer’s licence for Gravity Forms (what a buy!) and am fascinated by Matt Mullenweg’s recent emphasis on WordPress as a platform. This all culminates in my long-held view (shared by millions of others of course) that WordPress is a fantastic CMS.

Turning now to the legal side of things, I’ve considered a range of legal issues that can arise in connection with one’s use of, or development of themes and plugins for, WordPress. I’ve also witnessed a good number of spats. There have been spats between the founders of WordPress and theme/plugin developers (usually around the requirements and spirit of the GPL), spats between theme/plugin developers and users who have quite lawfully exercised rights conferred on them by the GPL, and spats between well-known plugin developers over alleged copyright infringement. I’ve seen the WordPress founders soften their stance on commercial themes (at least those fully released under the GPL), I’ve seen theme and plugin developers being puzzled by GPL requirements, I’ve seen the likes of Envato and others adopting a split licence for WordPress themes and I’ve seen both theme and plugin developers applying licences that, on their face, are wholly inconsistent with the GPL. I’ve discussed such matters with theme developers and I’ve thrown my hat into the ring on a few occasions.

So what…

I mention all this to demonstrate my knowledge of WordPress and passion for it. To confess passion for a piece of software probably sounds a little bizarre (no doubt Rowan will call me a “WordPress zealot” again) but, like millions of others, I love WordPress and the community that’s developed around it. Why? WordPress and its community truly made me appreciate the power of open source software and the generosity of the open source spirit. WordPress has opened my eyes to alternative business models, it has made me explore a range of open source legal issues and it has let me dip my feet and even knees into an industry which, had I been born a few years later, I’d probably have pursued in preference to law.

It is this history and my passion for WordPress that gave me the idea for writing this blog. I’d like to bring disparate legal threads together and help WordPress developers, designers and users navigate the legal issues that can arise through their varied uses of WordPress itself, WordPress themes and plugins and a range of other things. Some of these issues are unique to WordPress or specific theme shops, plugins or services while others can arise with any GPL-licensed software or any self-publishing. My goal is to cover as many WordPress-relevant legal topics as I can, in a single place, to give WordPress developers, designers and users as much of a one-stop-legal-shop as I can. I hope it helps.

Questions, questions

If you’d like me to consider any particular issue, don’t be afraid to Ask me a question. (You’ll appreciate, though, that I’m not providing legal advice on this blog.)

Tuning in with a dedication

Published by Richard Best

So I thought I’d start this blog with a dedication, a bit of gratitude if you will.

Since version 1.2 of WordPress, each readme.html file included with the WordPress download has included the following “first things first” statement from Matt Mullenweg:

“Welcome. WordPress is a very special project to me. Every developer and contributor adds something unique to the mix, and together we create something beautiful that I’m proud to be a part of. Thousands of hours have gone into WordPress, and we’re dedicated to making it better every day. Thank you for making it part of your world.”

Matt thanks us, the WordPress users, for making WordPress a part of our world. It is, however, we that should thank Matt and all his co-developers around the world for making WordPress a part of our world. That’s what I reckon anyway. WordPress has affected literally millions of lives for the better. Thank you to all those who contribute to it.