Henning Makholm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Scripsit Stephen Frost <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >>> It seems that you are under the impression that the activities such as the >>> selling of T-shirts are done for the purpose of raising money. (Not >>> surprising given the spin that MJ Ray's been putting on it) > >> It doesn't actually make any difference at all to me. The issue here is >> that you're operating commercially while trying to appear as part of >> Debian. > > How can you continue claiming that Philip's activities are commercial, > in response to the very paragraph where he patiently explains that > they are not?
In the UK, "Selling stuff" *is* a commercial activity. What the intentions of the organisation is, or claims to be, doesn't enter into it. This reminds me of the belief Universities have that their use of material covered by the patents of others doesn't matter, because University research is "non-commercial". Of course, since Madey vs Duke, in the US there is precedent that research at Universities *is* commercial, since (amongst other things) they raise money to do it, and raise money from the results of it. The intentions of Debian-UK seem good. But without a legal framework that will actually hold water against the various issues around "buying-and-selling" (which we sometimes call "doing business" or "being commercial") then frankly you are legally better off with one person sticking the money in a box under their bed. (At least then they are a sole trader...) I agree that worrying about this stuff sounds stupid; at least until you have to go through PAYE, tax, NI, VAT and so forth. If you manage to avoid it - good luck to you. But saying "our intentions are good" does not carry much weight during a punitive tax audit. And, frankly, given the recent antics of some of the anti-Free-software movement, having an organisation that is this vulnerable to trivial business legal shenanigans seems about as sensible as having code without licenses in Main. cheers, Rich > > -- > Henning Makholm "`Update' isn't a bad word; in the right setting it is > useful. In the wrong setting, though, it is destructive..." > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -- rich walker | Shadow Robot Company | [EMAIL PROTECTED] technical director 251 Liverpool Road | need a Hand? London N1 1LX | +UK 20 7700 2487 www.shadow.org.uk/products/newhand.shtml -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
