On Wed, Apr 13, 2005 at 09:10:48AM -0400, Chris Gianelloni wrote:
> > The Foundation cannot engage any legal contract on the behalf of any Gentoo
> > developer, not even on behalf of its members or board members. 
> 
> This is totally contradictory to what you said above.  A license granted
> to the Foundation *is* a legal contract.

It is not contradictory.

> Are you saying that even though someone could grant us a license that it
> holds absolutely no value?  Does this mean we have exactly zero means of
> getting licenses or engaging in partnerships with other companies?

No, it means that if the Gentoo Foundation gets a redistribution license
from a third party that Gentoo can redistribute. If a developer abuses this
trust and redistributes it personally (not by Gentoo) he is in error. In
that case, the third party can blame (read: sue) the developer but not the
Gentoo Foundation (unless the Gentoo Foundation has deliberately wrongfully
misinformed that developer in which case it is the Foundation's liability).

But the Gentoo Foundation cannot engage a legal contract on the behalf of
any Gentoo developer - with which I mean that the Gentoo Foundation can not
see the (volunteering) developers as employees and has therefore no power
over them.

This is how most NPOs function.

      Sven Vermeulen

-- 
  Documentation project leader

  The Gentoo Project   <<< http://www.gentoo.org >>>