-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 habj wrote: I've generally used/seen 'Fondaĵo Wikimedia' in Esperanto, though I'm not certain that usage is current. Well, being a foundation and being a non-commercial company are not mutually exclusive. As far as I understand (but I am *not* a lawyer!) there isn't really a legal definition of 'foundation' as such in the US. A legal entity that is what we'd call a foundation is going to be some sort of non-profit corporation -- the incorporation is what gives it a legal existence -- and there will be some specific legal term for that which is not "foundation". That doesn't make it "not a foundation" any more than it makes it "not a charity" or "not an organization"; it is all of those things. In the particular case of "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc." it is considered a domestic not-for-profit corporation under Florida state law. But what the proper translation of that into other languages and, worse, other legal systems might be, I couldn't really say. ;) </ianal> Too true. :P When the Foundation was young and dinosaurs ruled the earth, I tried to get clear answers about how translations of project names and other such names should be managed, but the board at the time was not really interested in getting involved in the issue. (IMHO that's a problem when it comes to branding and trademark management...) Might be worth popping the question over at HQ, see what current management thinks, but I would not be surprised if they don't consider it that big an issue to muddle in either. In theory this ought to be a question for the executive director (presently Brad) rather than bugging individual board members, I suppose... - -- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com / brion @ wikimedia.org)

habj ha scritto: In Italian it's left as it is most of the times, also for avoiding misunderstanding related to the slightly different legal definitions of a "foundation" is the US and a "fondazione" in Italy. Should it be translated, it should be more correctly specified that Wikimedia is a "foundation according the US law" ("fondazione di diritto statunitense"). Bye all, G.