On 5 Jun 2016 05:19, "Greg Varnum" gvarnum@wikimedia.org wrote:
....
John asked about filing and other fees paid by Jones Day, and if the fees
were separate from consulting costs. Unfortunately, we don’t have an easy, quick way to divide the Jones Day expenses into registration fees and legal fees, but we can provide more information about where the costs came from. Each trademark application costs about $1,000–5,000 (sometimes more), including filing fees and attorney’s fees. The cost for each application depends on the country’s application fees, the country’s administrative hurdles, the breadth of protection we are seeking, whether we can reuse materials prepared for previous applications, and whether we encounter resistance from trademark offices or other trademark holders.
Your response isnt clear, but it strongly implies the stated US$1.7M stated on page p.61 does include the fees paid by Jones Day to relevant government bodies around the world. No surprise there. But it is surprising that Jones Day doesnt provide detailed invoices that separate their own services from fees they have paid on the WMF's behalf.
If the WMF doesnt know what the fees cost, the WMF does not know how much extra it paid for an external consultant to do the paperwork for them ... ?
How much will it cost for someone to split the 1.7 M bill?
Their relationship with WMF has come a long way since the 'pro bono' work that Jones Day did to recommend acquiring a trademark on a public domain logo (and somehow convincing many WMF staff that it was a brilliant idea).
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Community_Logo/Request_for_consultation...
Finally, regarding John's question about non-program service investment
in Europe (page 35), this represents our foreign currency bank accounts with JP Morgan in the UK. The purpose of this holding is to retain donations received in EUR, GBP, CAD and AUD in their original currency to minimize currency exchange risks.
Do I understand correctly that the 5.2M was to meet minimum account opening deposit criteria for four accounts for the four currency.
The money cant be withdrawn while these accounts are open? Is it being managed by an investment fund? If so, which one, or what is the expected rate of return on this investment. Did the WMF have an option for which fund was used, or was it stipulated by JP Morgan/ etc?
-- John