[Foundation-l] Honorarium (was Re: [Found>, > This conversation had jumped back and forth ....)

[Anthere]

Arne Klempert wrote:
> On 8/13/06, Daniel Mayer <maveric149 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>>--- Tim Starling <t.starling at physics.unimelb.edu.au> wrote:
>>
>>>Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't these honoraria essentially Jimmy's only
>>>means of income? I don't know if he draws a salary from Wikia, but I'm
>>>fairly sure that the company is not yet turning a profit. He works almost
>>>full-time publicising Wikimedia. It would seem very strange to me to deny
>>>him this one small token of our appreciation.
>>
>>His income from other places is not at all something we need consider.
>>What matters is the use of Wikimedia-owned trademarks and logos
>>for monetary gain. The foundation owns and controls the use of those
>>trademarks and logos and, per our bylaws, board members are not
>>supposed to get net monetary gain for activities that arise from being
>>board members.
> 
> 
> Sorry, but I think you're going over the top. Giving Speeches has
> nothing to do with trademarks. Even if the name "Wikipedia" is
> mentioned in the program, this is completely legal (fair use or
> similar laws outside the US).
> 
> Regarding Jimbo: He is the founder of Wikipedia. He is not famous
> because he's a board member. He's famous because without him the
> Wikipedia, the Wikimedia Foundation, and the corresponding trademarks
> wouldn't even exist.
> 
> This said, I have absolutely no problem if Jimbo gets money when he
> talks about Wikipedia, or even the Wikimedia Foundation - as long as
> he (and this is where his responsability as a Wikimedia official
> begins) doesn't just pick the $$$ talks. IMHO it would also be wise to
> donate some amout of his speaker fees to Wikimedia. But I'm sure you
> can't find a bureaucratic solution for this, it has to be settled on a
> case-by-case basis.
> 
> This has long been debated within Wikimedia Deutschland. In the end we
> agreed on a policy that all board members have to inform the board
> about all their talks (including fees and reimbursements), so the
> board can review it from time to time.
> 
> Cheers,
> Arne


Jimbo's talks were originally organised by Danny. They are now organised 
by Jimbo's wife. So, I do not think the board has much information about 
them.

Ant