A few minutes ago, agriffis asked me about Gentoo's current legal status. I'm passing along my responses, in case anybody is interested.
First, our legal status is something that the Gentoo Foundation, Inc trustees are in charge of handling. I am a trustee, but I don't know everything that's going on, so I ask the other trustees to correct me where they see errors or omissions. Copyright -- We're still obtaining legal help on this issue. As far as copyright transfer from Gentoo Technologies to the Gentoo Foundation, Inc is concerned, my understanding is that drobbins is more than happy to sign the paperwork once we actually get it to him. NFP -- Now exists as a legal entity (in the state of New Mexico, to be specific), but IRS paperwork has not yet been filed. IRS paperwork requires bylaws to be in place first. The specific IRS filing will be a 501(c)(6), I believe, so donations will not be tax free. Bylaws -- First draft posted to -dev, with rather few comments. Need to move on getting these approved. Financials -- bank account now exists, but has no money at the moment. Store -- Official store is run by drobbins for as long as he wishes. An official European store may be in the works (drobbins has given his blessing), but I'm not sure where that is right now. Drobbins has also pledged to give some fraction (he specified it, but I've forgotten) of proceeds to the Gentoo Foundation. I believe that the actual legal situation with respect to the store is that drobbins is not obligated to contribute funds to the foundation; he has offered to do so out of his own generosity. The Gentoo Foundation will be receiving the copyright transfer from Gentoo Technologies in return for perpetual use of the store and various, specified Gentoo IP (mainly the use of the name and some images, I believe). Elections -- The foundation is required to have elections within 13 months (I think) of the foundation's incorporation, so that needs to be done soon. Of course, the foundation needs members to do that, which requires official bylaws. -g2boojum- -- Grant Goodyear Gentoo Developer [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.gentoo.org/~g2boojum GPG Fingerprint: D706 9802 1663 DEF5 81B0 9573 A6DC 7152 E0F6 5B76
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