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A few minutes ago, agriffis asked me about Gentoo's current legal |
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status. I'm passing along my responses, in case anybody is interested. |
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|
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First, our legal status is something that the Gentoo Foundation, Inc |
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trustees are in charge of handling. I am a trustee, but I don't know |
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everything that's going on, so I ask the other trustees to correct me |
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where they see errors or omissions. |
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|
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Copyright -- We're still obtaining legal help on this issue. As far as |
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copyright transfer from Gentoo Technologies to the Gentoo Foundation, |
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Inc is concerned, my understanding is that drobbins is more than happy |
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to sign the paperwork once we actually get it to him. |
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|
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NFP -- Now exists as a legal entity (in the state of New Mexico, to be |
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specific), but IRS paperwork has not yet been filed. IRS paperwork |
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requires bylaws to be in place first. The specific IRS filing will be |
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a 501(c)(6), I believe, so donations will not be tax free. |
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|
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Bylaws -- First draft posted to -dev, with rather few comments. Need |
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to move on getting these approved. |
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|
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Financials -- bank account now exists, but has no money at the moment. |
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|
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Store -- Official store is run by drobbins for as long as he wishes. An |
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official European store may be in the works (drobbins has given his |
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blessing), but I'm not sure where that is right now. Drobbins has also |
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pledged to give some fraction (he specified it, but I've forgotten) of |
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proceeds to the Gentoo Foundation. I believe that the actual legal |
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situation with respect to the store is that drobbins is not obligated to |
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contribute funds to the foundation; he has offered to do so out of his |
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own generosity. The Gentoo Foundation will be receiving the copyright |
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transfer from Gentoo Technologies in return for perpetual use of the |
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store and various, specified Gentoo IP (mainly the use of the name and |
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some images, I believe). |
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|
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Elections -- The foundation is required to have elections within 13 |
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months (I think) of the foundation's incorporation, so that needs to be done |
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soon. Of course, the foundation needs members to do that, which |
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requires official bylaws. |
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|
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-g2boojum- |
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-- |
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Grant Goodyear |
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Gentoo Developer |
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g2boojum@g.o |
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http://www.gentoo.org/~g2boojum |
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GPG Fingerprint: D706 9802 1663 DEF5 81B0 9573 A6DC 7152 E0F6 5B76 |
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