[Community] Concrete Example on somebody who would have joined NewOrg if it were there.

[Nat Sakimura]

Sorry that I did not respond earlier.

Yes. Incorporating itself would give it the legal shelter, and that is what
OpenID Japan is going after. However, in many cases, incorporating as a
non-profit is a non-trivial task and quite costly. If a project could
operate at a ligher weight level, it will actually get more things done in
shorter timeframe.

=nat

On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 5:14 PM, Daniel Perry <dan at danielperry.com> wrote:

> Brett:
> I went to the ieee-isto website. It was not clear exactly what legal
> arrangement exists to provide working groups or "projects" (like Liberty
> Alliance) with liability protection. It is likely an indemnification
> agreement. Keep in mind that an indemnification agreement won't stop someone
> from suing you. Further, an indemnification agreement is only as strong as
> the party willing to indemnify you. IC was set up in such a lightweight form
> that I don't see how any such indemnification agreement (which, you may
> recall, was rejected in the deliberative process) would be of any help.
>
> And I am still unclear - what conduct would working groups engage in that
> would expose them to any liability that could not be handled by forming an
> independent entity?
>
> Dan Perry
>
> ===========
>
>
>  http://www.ieee-isto.org/support.html#q1
>
> Formation Assistance
>
> In conjunction with legal counsel:
>
> 1) Develop bylaws and/or operating procedures
>
> 2) Formulate agreements between the IEEE-ISTO and the group to formally
> establish the group as an entity, or program of the IEEE-ISTO. Groups enjoy
> the legal protections of operating within a legally incorporated,
> non-profit, 501(c)(6) organization, including insurance and other
> protections.
>
>
> http://www.ieee-isto.org/about.html
>
> EEE-ISTO Overview
>
> The IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (IEEE-ISTO) was
> established on 1 January 1999 as a not-for-profit corporation, tax exempt
> under Section 501(c)(6) of the U.S. tax code. The IEEE-ISTO is governed by
> its own Board of Directors, Bylaws, and Articles of Incorporation. The
> organization is affiliated with the IEEE, and the IEEE Standards
> Association.
>
> The IEEE-ISTO offers industry groups (e.g., consortia, special interest
> groups, alliances, forums, working groups) an innovative and flexible
> operational forum and support for development and post-development standards
> and technology development activities. The IEEE-ISTO operates as an
> umbrella organization to provide the legal forum for industry groups to
> operate, without the need to incorporate themselves as a legal entity.
> Programs of the IEEE-ISTO enjoy the legal protections and insurance benefits
> of operating within an incorporated, fully insured, non-profit organization.
>
> The IEEE-ISTO enables industry groups to define their unique rules and
> procedures (e.g., scope and nature of technical program, membership (dues,
> categories), voting, consensus requirements, and structure) to build a
> foundation tailored to the technology, the market, the participants, the
> required time-frame, and the financial and human resources available to
> achieve their goals.
>
> Groups organized within the IEEE-ISTO are able to develop and publish their
> outputs on their own or through the IEEE-ISTO. The resulting publications,
> standards, and specifications of each program can then be submitted, as
> appropriate, to other standards bodies for approval or adoption (e.g., IETF,
> ISO, IEC, IEEE, ISO/IEC JTC1, W3C). Documents and technologies developed may
> be distributed as freely as the individual industry groups require and fund.
>



-- 
Nat Sakimura (=nat)
http://www.sakimura.org/en/
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