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I know they won't let you call a plugin WordPress-xxx, but they will allow WP-xxx. What are the rules surrounding WooCommerce?

Closed. This question is off-topic. It is not currently accepting answers.

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Your question should be specific to WordPress. Generic PHP/JS/SQL/HTML/CSS questions might be better asked at Stack Overflow or another appropriate Stack Exchange network site. Third-party plugins and themes are off-topic for this site; they are better asked about at their developers' support routes.

Closed 5 years ago.

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I know they won't let you call a plugin WordPress-xxx, but they will allow WP-xxx. What are the rules surrounding WooCommerce?

• plugin-development

Share Improve this question edited Dec 4, 2019 at 20:43 butlerblog 5,12133 gold badges2828 silver badges4444 bronze badges asked Dec 1, 2019 at 3:46 John DeeJohn Dee 51355 silver badges1414 bronze badges 3

• Note: WooCommerce is a company that is owned by Automattic, the parent company that owns the WordPress ecosystem. And I know you love to make off topic votes about Woo [even though it's the same company they have manipulated you into forgetting that]. It's not 'off topic'. This is specifically about how the related to its own internal naming conventions.I'm not asking about developing Woo stuff, I'm asking how the non-profit regulates copyrights to companies horizontal in their own corporate structure. It's specifically ON TOPIC about the non-profit WordPress. – John Dee Commented Dec 1, 2019 at 4:33
• Reading the On-Topic help page, I don't see anything about the naming conventions or copyright/trademark policies. Thus my off-topic vote. – Pat J Commented Dec 1, 2019 at 5:20
• The third line in your link is "theme and plugin development". I'm asking about the rules for the plugin directory. – John Dee Commented Dec 1, 2019 at 5:35

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Sorted by: Reset to default 3

I'm posting this answer because the accepted answer is slightly misleading, as it implies that you cannot use the trademarked name at all. While not 100% wrong, it's also not 100% right.

It is correct that unless you are WooCommerce, you can't call your plugin "WooCommerce Cool Add-on". But you can call it "Cool Add-on for WooCommerce." See "Why can’t I use someone’s trademark/brand as my plugin name?"

Also, if you're submitting to the repo and you are concerned about making sure your naming convention is correct/acceptable/valid, just submit it the way you interpret the rules. If it's unacceptable, they will tell you and then you adjust it to be approved. OR, just get on the #PluginReview Slack channel and ask up front. @Ipstenu and @otto42 can give you a solid thumbs up/down on whether your name will pass muster.

From the Plugin Developer FAQ

For example, if you submit “WooCommerce Tango Salsa Add-on” that would make your slug woocommerce-tango-salsa-add-on by default. If you don’t work for WooCommerce, we would just change that to woo-tango-salsa-add-on for you.

It appears that the policy is, if you don't work for WooCommerce, you aren't supposed to use "WooCommerce" in your plugin names.

I did some research on the subject. The answer is that there is no consistent policy from Automattic on this. I have been personally threatened by Automattic for using "WordPress", but not "WooCommerce". Specifically, they are not defending "WooCommerce" on their own controlled marketplace:

https://wordpress/plugins/jilt-for-woocommerce/

https://wordpress/plugins/woocommerce-pos/

So it looks to me that you can call a plugin "WooCommerce" all day and they have chosen to only defend the copyright in certain cases. I'll consider this post a notice on the subject. I intend to use the term "WooCommerce" commercially, which I consider in the public domain, as the copyright is not defended. [see you in court!]. Have a nice day.