@Kevinjohn Gallagher - Regarding point number 1, please refer to this comment by Matt Mullenweg in 2008 which I still hold to be true and accurate. http://markjaquith.wordpress.com/2008/01/23/automattic-secures-295-million-b-round/#comment-88087 The WordPress trademark is owned by the WordPress Foundation but the WordPress.org open-source project is owned by no one. There are project leaders, project founders, but not project owners.

If the open-source project is not owned by anyone, then how could acquisition ever happen?

On a side note, and something I raised last year, if the WordPress Foundation is separate from Automattic and it’s WordPress.com service, why isn’t it being sued over trademark infringement?

Matt answers that question in the following comment - http://ma.tt/2010/09/wordpress-trademark/#comment-485325

With regard to my domain, it's acceptable because the domain itself is WPTavern not WordPress Tavern. However, I do have the explicit permission of the trademark owner to use the trademark in the name of my show, WordPress Weekly.

The more I read into it, especially the post announcing the second round of funding, the more depressed I get as it's just a matter of time before the company is acquired. But on the flip side, Matt took steps such as the Trademark transfer that were huge in making sure that the most important things regarding WordPress would be kept under the foundation rather than a company that he may not have much influence over.