daniwo59(a)aol.com wrote:
Such an agreement woudl require IRS approval, something
it is not likely to
receive.
In a message dated 4/18/2007 6:06:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
erik(a)wikimedia.org writes:
IANAL, but since it would be a very limited agreement ("In the event
of WMF being unable to continue operations for a period of 4 weeks,
organization X is given permission to .." - use the brand, user
account data, etc.) I don't see why not. It would be not fundamentally
different from a trademark use agreement.
If we want to reach an agreement like this with a chapter, we should
carefully consider the impact of different jurisdictions on the
projects, though. EU is a mess of jurisdictions, and the Germans seem
to be quite litigious, for example.
If WMF were to go bust, I don't see how its permissions would be
relevant any longer. If this were a part of a bankruptcy, I can imagine
that a bankruptcy trustee might want to treat it as an asset. A clause
in the agreements providing that in the event of dissolution or other
alienation of WMF, all duly incorporated chapters would become soul
legal successors in their respective countries.
I don't think that IRS approval would matter except to a US chapter if
one did exist. These new operations would be in several different
countries where there is no obligation to follow IRS rules.
As Erik suggests though, any such arrangement should be subject to
having considered possible untoward complications before being adopted
Ec