On So, 2014-11-09 at 23:09 -0500, Karen Sandler wrote: > > This is really mundane: I agreed to a more restrictive indemnification > > than this by simply reading CNN.com today. So has anybody who's ever > > used Skype, or Flash, or Facebook. (Seriously, check the ToS of > > Facebook > > or CNN, the two I bothered to check; they're very similar and include > > the provision about attorneys' fees.) Or the Internet, really; I'm > > surprised I didn't have to agree to indemnify my ISP, though maybe that > > was part of my contract and I just forgot. Anybody can sue anybody for > > anything, and I highly doubt being an OPW mentor will increase the > > likelihood of my ending up in court. > > We very much tried to limit the contracts as much as possible, to figure > out how to set up the infrastructure to host the program without unduly > burdening the intern and mentor contracts only have indemnities > triggered for "gross negligence, recklessness or intentional > wrongdoing", as discussed in the previous thread (this is actually a > pretty high bar). Not only do I think that this legal infrastructure is > necessary in order for the Foundation to host the program, but some > funders also require that it be in place.
The indemnification is something that I personally still find irritating[1]. However as I understand now this seems to be pretty much standard procedure in the US and unfortunately necessary. And I do see that the one in these contracts is pretty limited. What I am mostly wondering about right now is the "limitation of liability" section. I kind of expected to see a provision to limit liabilities between the intern and mentor, but this appears not to be the case. There is no direct contract between these two parties, but I simply do not know whether liabilities could still apply (as a result of the contracts)[2]. That said, it probably is a lot easier for a US citizen to sign such a contract. I am German, and I have very little idea about what I would be getting myself into legally. Yup, the risks are *very* *low*, but I do already find a slightly increased possibility of being pulled into a lawsuit on US territory kind of scary. I do believe you when you are saying that the contracts were designed with a lot of care. It is just that I would be very reluctant to trust a contract that is designed for and falls under a jurisdiction that I know pretty much nothing about, and where it might be hard to defend myself legally. Benjamin [1] I have don't remember seeing an indemnification (or even much of a contract) when helping at events done by charitable organizations here in germany. My guess is that it is simply not really necessary, though it could also be that many organizations are not that careful. [2] And if there might be liabilities, what jurisdiction would apply in case either (or both) mentor and intern are not US citizens. I wouldn't be surprised if there is no clear answer to this though.
signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part
_______________________________________________ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
