Re: Fwd: Draft of Proposal for the GNOME Foundation.

[kelly poverty bloomington in us]

On 13 Jul 2000 17:15:46 -0400, Nat Friedman <nat@helixcode.com> said:

>Why do we have to conform to legal regulations at all?  If we just
>refuse to call the thing a Board of Directors, then are we still
>subject to these asinine restrictions?  We could have a place-holder
>board if that's necessary for some reason.

Indiana law, at least, requires an annual meeting of the membership of
every organization which has members.  Non-profit organizations are
required to have a board of directors, which is required to meet
periodically.  Failure to hold the meetings and make the required
annual filing will result in an administrative dissolution of the
corporation.  Most states are similar; some are considerably more
restrictive.

>But remember, this is all (at least, in my proposal) part of a
>virtual global entity.  I don't see why it would be subject to any of
>these laws.

A "virtual global entity" will have no tax advantages or ability to
independently own property (including trademarks and copyrights).  If
you want those advantages, you are going to have to play within the
system.

Kelly