[OSGeo-Discuss] Software Copyright ownership

Allan Doyle afdoyle at MIT.EDU
Mon Dec 14 13:17:07 EST 2009


Oops. One more bit about this.

On Dec 14, 2009, at 1:06 PM, Allan Doyle wrote:

> 
> On Dec 13, 2009, at 7:26 PM, Christopher Schmidt wrote:
> 
> [...]
> 
>>> My private opinion on this issue is pretty clear: Move your Copyright to  
>>> OSGeo - all of it including trademarks, logos and designs. That is what  
>>> OSGeo is there for. Get it out of corporate reach, it is none of their  
>>> business (great analogy, hehe). 
>> 
>>> Is their any advantage of keeping the  Copyright under a private property?
>> 
>> Depends. There may be more trust in some private properties than others. 
>> So far as I'm aware, OGC is a private property, you you argue that putting
>> KML under OGC was a good thing.
>> 
>> OSGeo is also a private property. It is a foundation, managed by an elected
>> board -- but so are most companies. (OSgeo isn't even, so far as I know,
>> a registered nonprofit organization at this time.) What makes OSGeo a better
>> steward for code than organizations which have managed code for years --
>> or in the cases of some projects, decades?

Once again - I'm not a lawyer...

OSGeo is a non-profit by virtue of the way it was incorporated. The IRS ruling that's in progress is not to decide whether or not it's a non-profit. It's to decide whether it's a "public charity" or a "foundation", each being specific legal terms that affect the rules under which it operates. If the organization fails to secure an IRS ruling after a certain amount of time, I think it defaults to "foundation" unless its annual income is under $25,000.

But both forms are 501(c)(3), and in any case, it is bound to operate under the provisions of the certificate of incorporation and the bylaws.

	Allan



More information about the Discuss mailing list