Summary of October 19th, 2008 Trustees Meeting

1.  Secretary's Summary

In Brief

This meeting of the board of trustees was held, quorate, Sunday, 19 October 2008 1900 UTC on freenode.net channel #gentoo-trustees.

Trustees In Attendance

• NeddySeagoon
• fmccor
• tsunam

dmwaters sends her apologies for her absense.

Status of Action Items In Last Meeting

• Gentoo Foundation Banking - tsunam Negotiations with Capital One are in progress. Final steps are being taken to secure the account. All necessary signatures have been collected. Anticipated data of completion is in two weeks, awaiting IRS updates. Grant Goodyear will be approached regarding the paypal check. Also anticipate receiving check from Google for GSoC.
• US IP & Trademark On hold for banking. Tanda Neundorf is legal counsel in this matter. Ms. Neundorf is our pro bono IP attorney for the US, she is an associate with the Mountain View law firm Fenwick & West, LLP.
• Foundation Article for GMN On hold.
• International Licensing - fmccor Karen Copenhaver, of Choate, Hall, and Stewart, LLP in Boston, will be representing the Gentoo Foundation internationally. Karen Copenhaver represented the Linux Foundation previously. Trademarks are generally valid by country or region, depending on treaties. Registration of IP outside the US is first come first served, thus we can easily enough license anyone anywhere to sell Gentoo-branded merchandise, but to protect our trademarks anywhere, we must register them (independent of use). The Gentoo Foundation currently has IP protection in the US. Gentoo e.V. has registered the "G" logo in Germany. Fmccor will be in communication with Gentoo e.V. regarding IP and possible collaboration over the next few weeks, with negotiating powers, any decisions pending board approval. To protect our IP, we should register it if we can. Ms. Copenhaver suggested writing into the agreement that the requester at least share the cost of registration since it is to their benefit.
• Certified Public Accountant - quantumsummers Set up conference call with ING, Grant Goodyear & the board. quantumsummers will continue to research this need and will report back at the next meeting.
• Licensing for emtom.cz and Howtoforge.com - quantumsummers This issue is specifically tied to International Licensing, and will be on hold until that is settled.
• Trustee and Officer Roles - fmccor The Foundation Bylaws are clear and facilitate the separation of roles.
• Cafepress Trademark Infringement - quantumsummers Friendly cease and desist letters are to be sent to the cafepress and the offending companies after review by the board and officers.

Open Bugs Assigned to Trustees

• Bug #177966 Clarify Foundation page on external entities This bug has been closed.
• Bug #217511 The Gentoo Store is Out of Date - musikc Store has been updated.
• Bug #236863 Bylaws Tracker Bug Some very important changes regarding foundation membership are being finalized. First, as all Gentoo developers and staff are encouraged to join the foundation, membership will now be available at join date, whereas previously a one year wait periods was required. Secondly, all contributing Gentoo users are encouraged to apply for foundation membership. Approval will be granted by the board of trustees on a per application basis, contingent on the applicant providing verifiable proof of meaningful contribution to Gentoo.
• Bug #56711 Retire: Renat Lumpau (rl03) Renat is currently out of the country, and given his important assistance to the foundation the board requested that undertakers defer action until his return.

Treasurer Report for FY ending 30 June 2008

Report is in progress, paypal records have been received, and we are waiting on the previous years banking records. Quarterly reports are currently in progress. They will be posted to the foundation web space as they are completed.

Other Business and Open Floor

The next meeting will be held on Sunday 16th November 1900 UTC, on the freenode.net irc channel #gentoo-trustees. All meeting logs, agendas, and summaries are available here.

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