WordPress.com: The 'Free' Domain Transfer That Led to a Lawsuit
In 2025, Ric Johnson posted on Twitter: "Matt, I gave you the domain WordPress.com for FREE to promote open source."
The post came amid WordPress drama, and it reopened one of the oldest questions in the WordPress ecosystem: What really happened with the WordPress.com domain transfer in 2005?
The answer depends on who you ask.
The Domain Owner
Ric Johnson had made it his business to register domains for open source projects. He owned domains for WordPress, Java, Drupal, and others—sometimes registering them from scratch, sometimes buying them from previous owners.
Matt Mullenweg, WordPress's creator, controlled WordPress.org and WordPress.net. But Johnson owned WordPress.com.
In 2005, Johnson engaged in discussions on WordPress forums about transferring the domain. According to Johnson, he saw himself as returning Mullenweg's "wallet"—giving the domain to its rightful steward to support the open source project.
In July 2005, Mullenweg publicly thanked Johnson for releasing the domain.
The Conditions
But "free" turned out to be more complicated.
According to Automattic's later legal filings, Johnson initially demanded 10% equity or 10% of revenue in exchange for the domain. After negotiations, they eventually settled on a different arrangement: Johnson would transfer the domain in exchange for a footer link to his OpenDomain project.
The domain was transferred. The link was added. Then later, the link was removed.
That's when things fell apart.
The Lawsuit
In 2006, Matt Mullenweg and Automattic filed a lawsuit against Ric Johnson in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Case No. 3:06-cv-01791).
The lawsuit alleged:
- Trademark infringement - Johnson had solicited donations via the domain phrased as "Donate to WordPress" but directing funds to OpenDomain
- Cybersquatting - Using the WordPress.com domain to extract value
- Unfair competition - Demanding equity or revenue shares in exchange for the domain
- Retained control - Claims that Johnson maintained perpetual control under a "free license" model
Johnson later said he received threats on the forums and had planned to file his own lawsuit. But before he could, Automattic filed first in a jurisdiction of their choosing—the Bay Area, known for being friendly to intellectual property cases.
According to accounts from the time, Johnson didn't have legal representation ready. The lawsuit caught him off-guard.
The Settlement
The case was settled out of court and dismissed. The terms of the settlement were not made public.
Johnson has described the lawsuit as devastating, leading to personal and financial losses. But in his 2025 tweets, he expressed no ongoing resentment toward Mullenweg, saying he appreciates the work Mullenweg has done to build WordPress.
Two Stories
Today, two narratives exist:
Johnson's version: He gave WordPress.com to Mullenweg for free to support open source, asking only for a footer link which was later removed. He saw himself as doing the right thing, only to be hit with a lawsuit that destroyed him financially and personally.
Automattic's version: Johnson attempted to extract equity and revenue from WordPress through the domain, solicited misleading donations, and retained control under terms that would have given him perpetual leverage over the project.
Both stories may contain truth. Domain transfers between open source projects and domain owners often involve messy negotiations, unclear expectations, and disputes over what "free" really means.
What's clear is that WordPress.com—one of the most valuable domains in the open source world—changed hands in 2005 under terms that satisfied neither party.
The domain now anchors Automattic's commercial WordPress hosting platform, generating revenue that has helped fund WordPress's open source development.
Whether that transfer was a gift, a negotiation gone wrong, or something in between remains a question both sides answer differently twenty years later.