On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 10:19 AM, Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org> wrote:
On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 1:13 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> Rich Freeman wrote:
>> On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 12:35 PM, William L. Thomson Jr.
>> <wlt-ml@o-sinc.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