I would like to point out some things that some people (Josh perhaps included) aren't clear on:
* Most of the money and other assets that SPI legally owns are held in trust for the corresponding Associated Projects. See the Framework for Associated Projects [1]. The terms of the trust are the Framework itself and any other agreements between the project's representatives and SPI. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_law.) This means that SPI is legally obliged to use these assets as directed by each Project, provided of course that that doesn't conflict with SPI's own need to use its assents only for the furtherance of its charitable purposes (this is spelled out in the Framework). This means that SPI is not able to arbitrarily freeze the funds allocated for particular projects. Of course SPI might refuse to spend these funds in ways that SPI considers are inconsistent with SPI's goals (as set out in the bylaws) or legal obligations. As the trustee and as a charity, SPI has to take responsibility for these kind of decisions. In principle it would be possible for a disagreement about whether some use of SPI funds held in trust for a Project conflicted with SPI's goals to be resolved in court: someone intended by the project to be a beneficiary could sue SPI for breach of the trust. Of course we all hope it wouldn't come to that! (As an aside, this is why the earmarked funds should be reported as liabilities in SPI's balance sheet.) * SPI is already officially opposed to software patents. See the Position and Promises about Intellectual Property [2]. So if a Project wanted to register a patent we would want to be clear that the intent was for defensive use only, and then once registered SPI (as the legal owner) would use the patent only defensively. SPI would refuse to use the patent to generate revenue. I hope that no SPI Associated Project would ask SPI to spend SPI money earmarked for them on a software patent for revenue generation. If they did ask that we would find ourselves in serious dispute with them. On the other hand, of course, SPI won't spend money earmarked for Projects on campaigning against software patents unless directed by the Project (see above). And in general we'd probably want to consult our lawyer before we used charitable funds for these purposes, because of the legal restrictions that usually apply to campaigning. [1] http://www.spi-inc.org/corporate/resolutions/resolution-2004-08-10.iwj.1 [2] http://www.spi-inc.org/corporate/resolutions/resolution-1998-11-16.iwj.2 Ian. _______________________________________________ Spi-general mailing list [email protected] http://lists.spi-inc.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/spi-general
