Mark, I'm just thinking out loud here, but if I knew that coming along to start-up camp meant anything I produced would be owned by the "entity", even if I built it myself, I might think twice about attending, and certainly about putting forward good ideas that I hadn't had a chance to get around to. I'm not 100%, but I think ut.ag's idea had been bubbling in one of their member's mind for a while but he hadn't had the time to realise it at all; getting too heavy with the IP up front may act as a big break on the enthusiasm to participate, much like collaborating or doing work with some Universities can be.
I'd instead suggest having a "vehicle" available if people want to take advantage of it is a good idea, or even dictating that that vehicle by facilitating startupweekend has rights to 10% of the equity or something like that, but anything more will probably turn people off. I'm a big fan, however, of getting the association registered so that if an appeal is made to someone like TVP, they actually have an entity to write the cheque to. It can also help to take the weight of Bart's shoulders. Geoff -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Neely Sent: Tuesday, 9 September 2008 6:25 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Startup Camp IP issues Elias, I agree that the initial setup fees can be kept quite modest (esp with donations of in-kind professional fees). The real cost overhead comes in *managing* the IP. To be effective, the entity needs to create and oversee an IP register (capturing details such as what IP has been created, who created it, who has rights to it, any supporting IP (i.e. IP which that IP is based on etc.). On-going IP management can be expensive, especially if patents are required. Commons-like entities can do it fairly cheaply, because they expressly avoid IP ownership - they use contracts that grant derivative IP rights to allcomers, without touching the underlying rights of the IP owners (and it is up to the owners to take any steps they want to protect their IP). Also, once you start getting involved with the Microsofts and IBMs of the world, admin effort escalates. Meetings, proposals, contracts, more meetings etc. That can quickly become quite onerous if the people running the show have (more than) full-time jobs managing their own businesses/start-ups etc. Most CRCs have a dedicated Secretariat to handle this work - they do the leg work of managing IP, brokering licensing queries, handling squabbles and generally keeping things ticking over. I'm not 'black hatting' the concept, just suggesting we need to factor into the costings having an individual or small team (even if only part-timers) whose job it is to manage the back office, once the entity gets to a certain level of maturity. I definitely think this is doable. I'd be keen to have an off-list brainstorm with interested parties to refine the objectives/goals, and then work up a structure that would suit the objectives and which could be run as efficiently (cost/time) as possible. Regards, Mark ----- Mark Neely Master Strategist Infolution Pty Ltd e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] m: +61 (0)412 0417 29 skype: mark.neely Read my blogs --> www.infolution.com.au www.neelyready.com Connect on LinkedIn --> www.linkedin.com/in/markneely -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Elias Bizannes Sent: Tuesday, 9 September 2008 11:14 AM To: Silicon Beach Australia Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Startup Camp IP issues I've been involved in a lot of discussions in the states about creating some legal entitys - one for the DataPortability Project, and another for consolidating a lot of players in the space like Identity Commons, Liberty Alliance, VRM, XDI.org and other organisations. I've also been lurking on the evolution of the Open Web Foundation - so this discussion is interesting, because maybe there is an opportunity here in Australia. Brief - a community driven legal entity - a two tier governance model: one where companies can fund and influence allocation of spending; another elected by the community that executes the organisation - can be used to hold common IP. Perhaps as Mark describes. - Used as a way to help other great initiatives like co-working spaces, conferences. - a way of enabling cross collaboration amongst the various groups like associations, special interest groups, communities - companies like Atlassian, Microsoft, IBM and the rest can support this one organisation (ie, donating software) and multiple groups can benefit without going through the hoops themselves. And I've spent well over 50 hours creating a governance framework for the DataPortability Project, which can easily be applied to this community (decentralised, open to anyone, no formal memberships, etc) The ASIC application fee is $400 (which is a night out in Sydney :) ), and no professional fees as I'm a chartered accountant and my old man is a lawyer so we can donate time to set it up and administer. Would people be interested in me creating a silicon beach foundation to be used for purposes like this? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Silicon Beach Australia" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
