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On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 1:43 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com> wrote: |
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> Rich Freeman wrote: |
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>> I don't claim that SPI does anything other than manage money or assets. |
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>> |
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> |
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> Based on your posts, you are. |
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Perhaps my posts were not correctly worded then. I do not intend to |
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claim that SPI does anything other than hold money and assets, and |
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utilize them as we direct. |
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> SPI may handle the assets, the financial |
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> paperwork and such but that does not mean that if a Gentoo dev, officers |
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> or anyone else on the behalf of or within Gentoo violates the law that |
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> Gentoo can't be sued. It would only mean that they would drop down one |
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> level and sue that. |
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There wouldn't be any Gentoo officers, since Gentoo would not be a |
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legal entity. |
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Now, Gentoo developers can certainly be sued, and so can you, and so |
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can everybody else on planet earth. |
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So, don't do anything illegal. :) |
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The risks are pretty low though if all you're doing is donating code. |
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What possible cause of action could somebody have against you for |
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writing code? |
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>> How would somebody sue "Gentoo" when Gentoo is just a trademark of |
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>> SPI? There would be no legal entity called Gentoo to sue. That's the |
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>> whole point. If somebody wants to sue SPI then that becomes SPI's |
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>> problem, though obviously as a project we would cooperate with them to |
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>> minimize this risk. |
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>> |
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> |
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> So, you are saying that Gentoo would no longer have any officers, |
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> trustees, board members, devs or anything else of that nature? As long |
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> as Gentoo has any of that, it can be sued. I'm not a lawyer either but |
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> browsing around on the SPI website, I see nothing that supports your |
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> claim that Gentoo can't be sued. |
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Gentoo would have developers, and that is it. However, legally a |
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Gentoo developer doesn't have any meaning. We're just individuals who |
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donate our time to the project. Sure, I can be sued as a Gentoo |
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developer. However, that isn't "Gentoo" being sued, that is "Rich |
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Freeman" being sued. Maybe Gentoo might help me out with my legal |
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bills, and maybe not, but Gentoo does not in general indemnify its |
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developers. Since I'm an officer of the Foundation I would be |
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protected in that regard, for whatever such protection ends up being |
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worth. Honestly, if somebody is concerned about getting sued they're |
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probably best off getting a personal insurance policy from a company |
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that issues such things and is in a position to make good on their |
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promises. |
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Nothing can be done to prevent anybody from suing anybody for anything |
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in the US. You can't legally prevent lawsuits in the US. All you can |
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do is make sure you're in a position to win them. |
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-- |
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Rich |
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