Forking isn't the issue. Here they just took the whole ID/address from which existing installations will continue to be updated from. This is theft. I have no doubt it will be added to the lawsuit.
While technically they own the platform and can do whatever they want, there is clearly ill intent here and it'll be used against them.
They kept the permalink afaik, which is probably still likely to cause confusion in the marketplace and may still be a trademark issue.
Without knowing this drama, if I found and clicked an ACF link on a 2 year old Reddit post and ended up at Secure Custom Fields, I’m not sure I’d know it wasn’t by the ACF folks. Just their branding for the v2 or whatever. I think customers have a reasonable expectation that permalinks won’t take them to unrelated products.
Yep. And the string 'acf' is used throughout the plugin and the plugin download page (in reviews, etc). And 'acf' is indeed a pending trademark registration.
Or, more blatant and accurate, Sherlocking is when Apple literally named their search product "Sherlock" when a popular third party shareware app named "Watson" already existed.
The verb you're looking for is stole
Sherloking is when a Walmart is built next to a cornershop. Here the dude tore open the corner shop while claiming to be a victim.