Topic: Legality of Transfer of assets from SME ?

[janet]

purvis

No-one really owns the data/intellectual property, so how can anyone appoint Shad as a executor of the data, & who has any rights to appoint an executor.
To me it's as simple as saying Shad has control now & if Shad wants to, then he will pass control to someone else, no letters or no appointment from any authority needed.
Koozali Foundation is the entity he is looking at passing control to, discussions re Koozali legality etc are really another issue, but I see nothing wrong with any group of like minded individuals from this community getting together to legally create a "vehicle" to support their common interest (ie SME server or shall we now call it Koozali SME server).

Having said that, I do not know what procedure the Koozali board have in mind for a handover. They can create as many letters or handover documents as they feel necessary. & it is really their decision.

If you feel you have valuable & vital input to make, then get your facts right, do the research, read the constitution of both contribs.org/SME server & Koozali Foundation etc & work it all out based on facts rather than guesstimation & supposition.
There is little point making unbased claims or suggestions (as these only alarm people who believe what they read), most of which in this thread have had no merit & are are non existent. As was said, your whole scenario is flawed as your first "argument" was invalid.

PS Just saw your latest post. I thought I read that contribs.org would continue "as is" for the time being (and really it is just a name AFAIK).
Koozali Foundation is just a clean unencumbered legal entity, that path probably being chosen to dispense with some of the concerns you elude to.

[purvis]

Janet,
I don't believe in half your words you posted as usual.
Because you have issues with my words, your back to name calling or just a play upon words to discredit.  Does it ever quit?
It is apparent to me that you have little legal knowledge and that is ok, we all have different backgrounds.
Wishing for a land of Oz is ok, but it does not exist in USA at the moment.

I have outlined some things that should stand in court if ever questioned.
Courts and laws do not believe in the good ole hand shake these days, or words to convey an agreement, plus they are not honored.

Facts, facts?
Apparently I was right about what I was writing about all along from your own words, if they are correct. About Koozali Foundation possibly not having any right to the assets from contibs.org thru self procurement of their own along with other issues that may be more serious when it comes to receiving monies from contribs.org donations.

These are serious concerns whether you acknowledge them or not for both organizations and people who have been given custody of said assets. Be it a cash, fixed or intangible asset.

In the case those did not know. A non profit organization is organization that operates under a certain federal tax law. There are many different types of non profit organizations allowed by the US federal government and they are not all treated the same by federal law. That is pretty much the only difference between them and other organizations.
And for those that also do not know, there is more abuse in non profit organizations than you shake a stick at. I dont think contribs.org is one of them, but who knows what is down the road.

Well I am not going to lose sleep of what good warnings and suggestions I have issued.

[janet]

purvis

I see no reference by myself to name calling against you anywhere in this thread & I would request you withdraw that accusation.
It seems you quote that whenever someone says something you disagree with or is in opposition to your stated words.
I can ask also, will you ever stop that behaviour, it is quite unnecessary.

FYI I have had extensive experience with Non Profit organisations for over 30 years.
FYI re earlier comments, I have also had extensive training & many years of practical experience in counselling & treatment of emotional & attitudinal problems, which is quite common in seemingly normal people, who for example go overboard on their pet topics etc without being factual etc.

Please quote where in the rules of contribs.org, SME server & Koozali Foundation, that you think someone is doing something wrong here.
It's all great to be theoretical & quote other cases & situations, but I'm sure you know, the judge is only interested in the matter before him.
By the way, whoever is going to take Koozali or Shad or contribs.org to court ?
Come on, get real !

Your concerns are noted, but show us where it applies, drop the hypotheticals please.

You can carry on here as long as you want, but I see no reason to add more to your rambles, I have said my piece & I believe I have been reasonably polite about it.

I have confidence in Koozali Foundation & the members of the board, I read all I can about them, & I'm sure they have adequately addressed legal issues etc.

[purvis]

from Janet from here recent post

If you feel you have valuable & vital input to make, then get your facts right, do the research, read the constitution of both contribs.org/SME server & Koozali Foundation etc & work it all out based on facts rather than guesstimation & supposition.

I had asked or inquired to what had happened and if a situation existed.
You say otherwise of me!

from Janet from her recent post

There is little point making unbased claims or suggestions (as these only alarm people who believe what they read), most of which in this thread have had no merit & are are non existent. As was said, your whole scenario is flawed as your first "argument" was invalid.

Unbased claims or suggestions?  The way you wrote it, this calls me a liar.
No merit?  Who says? You the queen?
Argument. You are the only one arguing here. I made some suggestions based on actual past experience concerning non profit organizations.


And Janet,  Your observations of human behavior are lacking. Maybe it is good enough for a self proclaimed physiologist in non profit institutions  So you should leave that some where else. It is very distasteful here.

How does it feel now to be personal and  being you are on the receiving end.
It did not think it felt too nice did it.
Don't start something unless you are willing to go the mile.
I can also go back to words you addressed me with in the past along with others just days ago.
Your behavior should stop. I do not like being addressed in an offensive personal manner as you are doing.
I resent it and i will not put up with it.

[purvis]

Janet,
Congratulations on another temple to try to divert the issues I had brought up.
Good try.
But I am not distracted from my initial post.
My thoughts stand.


 

[janet]

Stefano etc

Would a moderator please close this thread, it has gotten out of hand.

[purvis]

Why should this be closed.
I posted a topic and Janet comes in with rudeness to me beyond what should be tolerated by an individual.
Then she ask that this thread be closed.
Another act of rudeness on her part I feel.

I don't she understands I don't appreciate her post that choose to be little me or others in other threads.
I have good phycology skills too.
But I don't go around demeaning people with my thoughts.
I made a mistake once and misunderstood Charlie's intention of his words in another thread and spoke very bad to him. Which I was very wrong in I believe I apologized to him.
So I have been guilty of too of not being so kind before.
I turned that leaf and also it appears others turned that leaf as well.
But it is not right what Janet does with personal attacks and how she chooses to word those harsh sentences.

Also don't close this post so that she has an opportunity to apologize.
I am not hiding my breathe on that.
I think anybody who attacks somebody out of no reason on numerous incidents should also be muzzled from making personal attacks.

I feel I have the right to defend my honor from attacks from anybody.
And I also feel these words should be left for all to see.

[idp_qbn]

Oh purvis, do shut up!

No one has called you names> Your concerns have been noted (several times).  Get a good night's sleep.

Ian

[chris burnat]

Good people (and Purvis in particular) , we are a distinguished community and the first rule of any community is for its members  to control their  tempers and be respectful to one another.  This thread is getting out of hand, and whilst it is not my intention to take sides or even voice an opinion, as a moderator, I have no options but to close it.
With regrets.
chris

[gzartman]

To put these words simply.
If Koozali is not the same organization of contribs.org or whatever the organization name of the SME organization. Then it has no rights of any here or to any assets tangible or not. And has no rights to conduct its business here.

If in some way Koozali is an organization such as a DBA of SME. That would be another story.

The previous entity associated with contribs.org, SME Server Inc, was administratively dissolved by the state it was registered in, so it is out of the picture from a legal standpoint.  Quite simply, it doesn't exist anymore.  All of the SME Server content is GPL licensed, so it is really owned by everyone.  The delivery system (the data/web servers) is proprietary -- Shad owns them.

Koozali Foundation, Inc was formed by a group of community volunteers under the direction of a attorney who specializes in the formation of non-profit organizations.  The entity was legally registered in the State of Oregon and then ratified by the community just this month in a open vote on the mailing lists and forums.  Koozali Foundation, Inc is now the legitimate, and legal, entity to represent the community and perform as the steward of SME Server content.  If anyone else wants to create a new community and distribution, he or she is well within his/her rights to do so under the terms of the GPL.

Moreover, there are no assets to transfer.  SME Server as a project was flat broke when Koozali was formed.  The content is freely available under the terms of the GPL.  All of the code can be downloaded from SourceForge, for example.   The wiki/docs are all freely available online and can be copied if someone had the desire.  Things like the buildsys Shad engineered are proprietary.   Other things like forum user accounts are not GPL, so they can't be transferred. 

[gzartman]

Is this true? SME is privatized now?

No, SME is not privatized. 

A new non-profit foundation was formed to for project stewardship:  Koozali Foundation, Inc. 

That's it.

[gzartman]

Koozali Foundation may not even own the data or other assets what belonged to the contribs.org or whatever the organization name is called.
.

As a point of clarity, the content and code (community assets) are all GPL.  They are owned by everyone.  The web/data server that contribs.org is running on is owned by Shad.  Shad was running contribs.org out of generosity, as a one-man band.  There wasn't any entity in place to guide nor assist him.  The entire community owes Shad as VERY BIG thank you for his tireless and thankless efforts.  Without his efforts, this community would likely have died long ago.

Koozali is a new beginning for this community.  The name comes from re-birth.   There is no transfer nor take over.  This organization was formed by us, the SME community.  Myself and everyone on the Koozali board of directors are just like all of you.  We are users and we love the distribution.  We just decided to step up and do something to help keep it alive and advance it.  We organized ourselves and you all voted this month to ratify us to represent the project. 

This really is an amazing and exciting time.  We are taking ahold of our distribution and working to give it a bright future instead of letting it slowly fade away!