As a minimum the OpenSimulator project should form an LLC if only to have a "foil" to protect contributors from lawsuit/"patent" predators!
That is exactly what an LLC is designed to do! In Arizona an LLC can be formed for US$120 and I would be happy to do the paperwork if there is a consensus on this ( I have formed a total of 8 LLCs, although I am NOT an Attorney. I am a "Patent Agent", but that ONLY applies to patents.) Karen On Mon, 2010-11-01 at 13:28 -0700, Cristina Videira Lopes wrote: > We have been discussing these issues internally for a while. The main > issue, from an organizational perspective, is that the project is not > part of any official organization, and, as such, cannot take signed > contributors' agreements that would do away with the strict > restrictions that we have in place. > > Note that these restrictions are in place for a very good reason: > OpenSim is very close to one company's product, Second Life, and works > with their GPL client. However, the license is BSD; we don't want to > put people's businesses in danger by risking claims that there is code > in here that comes from a GPL project. That's the reason why these > very restrictive policies are in place: we're protecting the > businesses that are emerging on top of the platform. > > Even though we all believe that Linden Lab would never do anything to > harass the OpenSim community, we are more cautious about Linden Lab's > next owner, assuming the likely possibility that LL will be acquired. > There are a lot of sharks out there... > > So, not withstanding the LGPL issue, which I agree changes things a > little bit, the best way out of these restrictions once and for all is > for us to form an official non-profit organization. That will allow > that organization to receive signed contributors' agreements saying > that their contributions are, indeed, original -- even if they have > been involved in viewer development. Such agreements move the > responsibility to the individual contributors, instead of affecting > the project as a whole, as it is now. > > We are moving in that direction. > > Of course, there is nothing preventing groups of people from forming > development teams that have less restrictive policies. Risk is in the > eye of the beholder... > > On Nov 1, 2010, at 12:57 PM, Ai Austin wrote: > > > There has been a number of blog posts and descriptions recently of > > developments of OpenSim that seek to extend and solidify some of the > > results of the core developments. This is great. Diversity and > > rapid cycles of innovation is what a vibrant development community > > needs. But we need to encourage some of the very best results of > > these efforts do find their way back to core and shared developments > > that benefit all. > > > > Reading the blog entries of these developments, it seems that a big > > issue is our lack of clarity of the policy on excluding those who > > have also been involved in developments of the viewers under the > > previously restrictive licence terms, and a clear mechanism for > > extending OpenSim beyond core modules t0 those things essential to > > make a useful environment. > > > > A few examples include: > > http://sanctuary.psmxy.org/2010/10/31/18/introducing-aurora/ > > http://github.com/openmetaversefoundation/fortis-opensim > > http://www.meta7.com/ > > > > The recent move of the Linden labs viewer licence to Lesser GPL is > > critical and completely removes the need to be restrictive on that > > score. For over 20 years all developments in my group have been > > Lesser GPL to encourage really widespread and unrestricted take up > > of the results. > > > > Can I suggest that > > > > a) The Dev group now discuss this and immediately declare that the > > previous restriction on excluding developers who have seen LL viewer > > source code is removed due to the LGPL licence now in effect. > > > > b) That we adopt an approach that encourages inputs of elements and > > usability extensions (via optional modules) that are under LGPL or a > > suitable Creative Commons Licence. > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Opensim-dev mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev > > _______________________________________________ > Opensim-dev mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev
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