Re: [gentoo-project] Formally have Council oversee the Foundation 2.0

[Alec Warner]

On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 10:19 AM, Rich Freeman <rich0@g.o> wrote:

> On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 1:13 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com> wrote:
> > Rich Freeman wrote:
> >> On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 12:35 PM, William L. Thomson Jr.
> >> <wlt-ml@××××××.com> wrote:
> >>> On Monday, January 16, 2017 11:56:43 AM EST Rich Freeman wrote:
> >>>> And nobody really has a choice about whether they'll handle lawsuits.
> >>>> If you own property, then you better have a plan for handling
> >>>> lawsuits.  I suspect that SPI has thought this through a bit more than
> >>>> we have historically.
> >>> The SPI is not a legal management entity. You are confusing fiscal
> with legal.
> >>>
> >> Again, I think you're thinking I'm saying I'm not.
> >>
> >> I'm not saying that the Gentoo Foundation should retain the legal
> >> services of SPI.  I'm saying that they should turn over their property
> >> to SPI and cease to exist.  At that point we don't need legal
> >> services, because we legally don't exist.
> >
> >
> > I have been looking at the SPI website, other than managing money and
> > controlling assets, SPI does not appear to do anything else management
> > wise.  Do you have a link to the SPI website that says it does what you
> > claim?
>
> I don't claim that SPI does anything other than manage money or assets.
>
> >
> >>>> In any case, the point is that if Gentoo moves under SPI then there
> >>>> would be no "Gentoo" to sue.  "Gentoo" would be a trademark of SPI.
> >>>> Any copyrights on our works that are held centrally would belong to
> >>>> SPI.  Our money would be stored in SPI bank accounts.  So, if you want
> >>>> our stuff, you have to sue SPI.
> >>> Completely WRONG!
> >>>
> >>> "Project Independence
> >>> SPI does not own, govern or control the associated projects."
> >>> http://www.spi-inc.org/projects/relationship/
> >> They wouldn't own the project.  They would own our assets.  They
> >> wouldn't control anything.
> >>
> >
> > They would own the assets but I have found nothing that says Gentoo
> > can't be sued still or that SPI would provide a defense for Gentoo.  The
> > only case I can think of, if the IRS comes after Gentoo and SPI is
> > handling the money and paperwork.  Then SPI would step in.
> >
>
> How would somebody sue "Gentoo" when Gentoo is just a trademark of
> SPI?  There would be no legal entity called Gentoo to sue.  That's the
> whole point.  If somebody wants to sue SPI then that becomes SPI's
> problem, though obviously as a project we would cooperate with them to
> minimize this risk.
>

A suit against "Gentoo" aka:
https://www.gentoo.org/inside-gentoo/developers/

"A business partnership, a nonprofit organization, or a group of citizens
can be parties in a lawsuit if the court accepts that group as representing
1 side of the dispute."

But of course, IANAL ;)

-A


>
> --
> Rich
>
>