It's complicated. The trademark is indeed owned by The Foundation but they have granted Automattic an "exclusive, fully-paid, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sublicensable right and license to use and otherwise exploit the trademarks". This is only just coming to light.
So the Foundation appears to only own the trademarks on paper. Despite that, this is how Matt Mullenweg framed the trademark ownership situation to the community:
"the most central piece of WordPress’s identity, its name, is now fully independent from any company." he also claimed that Automattic had "give[n] up control" of the trademarks. Those statements are demonstrably untrue.
So the Foundation appears to only own the trademarks on paper. Despite that, this is how Matt Mullenweg framed the trademark ownership situation to the community:
"the most central piece of WordPress’s identity, its name, is now fully independent from any company." he also claimed that Automattic had "give[n] up control" of the trademarks. Those statements are demonstrably untrue.
https://ma.tt/2010/09/wordpress-trademark/
https://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/assignment-tm-4233...