Hi Greg, Just to expand a little on what John is saying here, I find it a little odd that the information to separate out the cost of actually making trademark applications, and the cost of legal consultants, has not been separated out. I confess I'm not that familiar with the rules of Form 990, but in my experience it would be most irregular to aggregate two expenses as disparate as that in a general purpose financial statement.
I'm also concerned by the lateness of the filing. While I'm aware that the relevant authorities are pretty generous with giving extensions when asked, filing stuff late is a habit worth kicking. Otherwise you are very dependent on the goodwill of whomever you're filing with to avoid unnecessary penalties. On a brighter note, I definitely appreciate the work that you're doing to get this information for us, so thank you for that. Cheers, Craig On 5 June 2016 at 13:09, John Mark Vandenberg <jay...@gmail.com> wrote: > On 5 Jun 2016 05:19, "Greg Varnum" <gvar...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > >.... > > > > John asked about filing and other fees paid by Jones Day, and if the fees > were separate from consulting costs. Unfortunately, we don’t have an easy, > quick way to divide the Jones Day expenses into registration fees and legal > fees, but we can provide more information about where the costs came from. > Each trademark application costs about $1,000–5,000 (sometimes more), > including filing fees and attorney’s fees. The cost for each application > depends on the country’s application fees, the country’s administrative > hurdles, the breadth of protection we are seeking, whether we can reuse > materials prepared for previous applications, and whether we encounter > resistance from trademark offices or other trademark holders. > > Your response isnt clear, but it strongly implies the stated US$1.7M stated > on page p.61 does include the fees paid by Jones Day to relevant government > bodies around the world. No surprise there. But it is surprising that > Jones Day doesnt provide detailed invoices that separate their own services > from fees they have paid on the WMF's behalf. > > If the WMF doesnt know what the fees cost, the WMF does not know how much > extra it paid for an external consultant to do the paperwork for them ... ? > > How much will it cost for someone to split the 1.7 M bill? > > Their relationship with WMF has come a long way since the 'pro bono' work > that Jones Day did to recommend acquiring a trademark on a public domain > logo (and somehow convincing many WMF staff that it was a brilliant idea). > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Community_Logo/Request_for_consultation#Legal_representation > > > Finally, regarding John's question about non-program service investment > in Europe (page 35), this represents our foreign currency bank accounts > with JP Morgan in the UK. The purpose of this holding is to retain > donations received in EUR, GBP, CAD and AUD in their original currency to > minimize currency exchange risks. > > Do I understand correctly that the 5.2M was to meet minimum account opening > deposit criteria for four accounts for the four currency. > > The money cant be withdrawn while these accounts are open? Is it being > managed by an investment fund? If so, which one, or what is the expected > rate of return on this investment. Did the WMF have an option for which > fund was used, or was it stipulated by JP Morgan/ etc? > > -- > John > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
