On Fri, 2011-07-15 at 18:25 -0400, Mike Rathburn wrote: > Excellent points and insight Steve. Recognize that I believe the whole > point of incorporating would be for protecting the assets of the LUG.
FYI protecting IPO and managing finances is the sole purpose of the Gentoo Foundation. Protecting IPO is extremely time consuming, so much that allot of the time, financial matters are set aside. Gentoo has worked with a few pro-bono law firms. For most things your better off passing it on to another entity that is design for such. Like the SFLC or SPI if anyone has ever heard of either. Debian was under the SPI at one point, I think they have moved on. http://www.softwarefreedom.org/ http://www.spi-inc.org/ > Incorporating also doesn't have to be as a NFP, thus drastically reducing > the burden and costs, while providing the same level of legality. I think > disregarding any incorporating 'could' ultimately produce an undesirable > result, as we all just nearly witnessed in the last two days, thus I think > it's worth more than just a casual conversation. Regardless of structure, you will need money for legal fees. > Finally, I don't see this as a representation of Jacksonville Linux Users > Group. It clearly and definitively has become the William Linux Users > Group. That's not a jab at William in any way and his efforts. It's merely > a statement of legal fact. LEGAL fact. Until those assets are disbursed in > a formal manner, this LUG will continue to be at the ultimate mercy of a > single individual. Mike, did you take a vote when you elected to have the name of the Facebook page changed? Did you ask anyone when you changed the Facebook page avatar (that now looks like crap all pixelated)? Have you asked anyone if they want the JaxLUG wiki linked to Facebook? You are the one who keeps pushing Facebook and those things without even a vote or member poll. Acting 100% unilaterally. Please tell me when I took such action without bringing it up on list? You posted about the benefit of a Facebook page, but never was there a poll or vote as to such. Just assumed it was wanted and proceeded. As for me taking things over, no that was never discussed. But when a mailing list, wiki, and otherwise is down. Like when our domain name expired last month. How can I communicate with anyone at that point? Sure we could have turned to Facebook there, but its missing the bigger point and picture. If I had the chance to ask others, then I would have. But I made it clear what I was doing, and anyone else could have offered their services, or to take things over. Did anyone step up? Yes I did, and thats why it seems to be all me. Also why I am removing myself, because I know people see it as my LUG. Despite all my efforts to clarify that I am just one person, one member time and time again. > The last sentence above from Steve drives home my point of view also. What > could be the damages incurred if another group not only "claiming" to be the > Jacksonville Linux Users Group, but IS, by law, the Jacksonville Linux Users > Group, LLC/Inc.? I don't have the answer to that, but again I think it's > worth discussing and not be completely disregarded. Maybe you need to have some experience in IP litigation to have a clue. You will spend a huge amount of time with anything to do with the law, and litigious actions. Not that I speak from experience or anything there ;) BTW, this proof of ownership came up with Dotster over the domain name, and you don't want to know the state of things there.... -- William L. Thomson Jr. Obsidian-Studios, Inc. http://www.obsidian-studios.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive http://marc.info/?l=jaxlug-list&r=1&w=2 RSS Feed http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml Unsubscribe [email protected]
