[OSGeo-Standards] Input required from OSGeo Standards List Members

[Greg Troxel]

Bruce Bannerman <bruce.bannerman.osgeo at gmail.com> writes:

> what inspired you to subscribe to this list;
> what you want from being a member of this list; and

I was dimly curious about standardsa activity, hoping there would be
nothing objectionable from Free Software and Open Standards viewpoints

> your review of the proposed new OSGeo/OGC MOU (see context below).

The draft is at
  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LNbDCkmjqfOtrUjOLkYNNhKhtPzXI_uCAC4R-l8drbY
and I don't think it's ok for osgeo to use google docs, to distribute
the draft, or to work on editing it.

If there is an actual draft someplace else I didn't find it.  I am
finding the state of where we are and what is proposed really hard to
follow.

FAIR needs a reference.

Looking at the old MOU, one thing that jumps out at me is that both
groups are described as "nonprofit".  However, there are multiple kinds
and the distinctions are important.  There are charitable organizations
(called 501(c)3 in the US), which are legally obligated to act in the
public interest.  There are trade associations (called 501(c)6 in the
US) that are legally obligated to act in the common business interests
of the members.  My expectation was that osgeo was a 501(c)3 and OGC was
a 501(c)6.  However I see that osgeo is approved as 501(c)4 in the US
and I cannot figure out OGC's legal status from the website.  I think
it's important to be clear on this as the obligations of each
organization must be understood in order to review an MOU.


The earlier comments about trademark license and open source sound good
to me.   Certainly trademarks should be without fee for open source
projects, at least those that do not engage in proprietary dual
licensing.
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