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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Hi thanks to all for responding and in
particular to the offers of help from Luis, Thomas and Diane.<br>
<br>
I use Luis' email below to give more detail about our activities.
See in-line.<br>
<br>
It is also now my strong personal opinion that we should now
engage a paid part-time General Counsel but that needs discussion
and OSMF consensus. We are currently completely volunteer, so it
is a big step<br>
<br>
On 19/11/2014 00:57, Luis Villa wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAM2wSz7EJ1P+bvB5NjDf+TRiGC074qWUPiS28Afzfrf2N082pw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Nov 18, 2014 at 1:46 PM, Paul
Norman <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:penorman@mac.com" target="_blank">penorman@mac.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"><span class=""> On
11/18/2014 10:11 AM, Luis Villa wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">On Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 11:18 AM,
Michael Collinson <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:mike@ayeltd.biz" target="_blank">mike@ayeltd.biz</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px
#ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">I would also
like to highlight that we also now welcome
associate members who can help us
occassionally or want to work on a specific
topic that fires you up. This involves no
specific formalities nor duties. </blockquote>
</div>
<br>
Hi, Mike, others-</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">Is there a formal
description somewhere of the
roles/responsibilities of the WG? That would
help me evaluate to what extent (if at all) I
can participate in WG activities.</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</span> The scope of the LWG is listed at <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licensing_Working_Group"
target="_blank">http://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licensing_Working_Group</a></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
Also, here is our 2013+ Action Plan which was formally submitted to
the board and so represents our formal scope document:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D3KwSM_BO7KkcbVADQVVn7eFwkD-RNauMwidhhlVPsI/pub">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D3KwSM_BO7KkcbVADQVVn7eFwkD-RNauMwidhhlVPsI/pub</a><br>
<br>
and for, completeness, draft 2014 Action Plan:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qRH5-LtzXiLhFFoo4iDu8mKfIUv1dhLYTwRZxBgNhJ8/pub">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qRH5-LtzXiLhFFoo4iDu8mKfIUv1dhLYTwRZxBgNhJ8/pub</a><br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAM2wSz7EJ1P+bvB5NjDf+TRiGC074qWUPiS28Afzfrf2N082pw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
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<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thanks, Paul. I hope you and the rest of the group
don't mind me asking some more questions.</div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BWn372ow_1tnTdQja76mthS8V-ZQ5PCL_RWLR1CBzkw/pub"
target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BWn372ow_1tnTdQja76mthS8V-ZQ5PCL_RWLR1CBzkw/pub</a>
has some of the work we'd like to take on in the near
future.<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Interesting. How often does the group meet, in
practice? Is there also a fair bit of email between
meetings, or...?</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
We've progressively wound down from 2 meetings a week(!) to one per
month, which is about right. The current gap in frequency is, I
hope, transient. We have a low volume of emails in between on
strategic discussion and have also been experimenting with circular
resolutions. We are also getting an increasing amounts of license
enqurires along the lines of "I intend to XYZ, is it OK to use your
data".
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAM2wSz7EJ1P+bvB5NjDf+TRiGC074qWUPiS28Afzfrf2N082pw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
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<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It mentions referrals to outside counsel - is that
still WSGR or is it someone else?</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
Yes, WSGR. We occassionally ask for, and get pro bono advice, on
specific issues.
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAM2wSz7EJ1P+bvB5NjDf+TRiGC074qWUPiS28Afzfrf2N082pw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I note quite a few non-licensing topics—DMCA, Facebook,
etc. Are those common or is this unusually timed?</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
Not very common. I wanted to keep our name as License Working Group
to emphasize our strategic direction and nature. Our primary task is
"
<meta charset="utf-8">
<span
style="font-size:13px;font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;"
id="docs-internal-guid-cc93f00f-c861-351e-7b35-1c60f0dcc689">the
promotion of open geospatial data through practical, coherent and
clear licensing". B</span>ut we are a catch-all for anything
considered "legal". I am also keen on the area of risk mitigation,
so conducting a DMCA review in conjunction with our Data Working
Group was an important but finite activity. One other thing we've
been involved in is "policy" documents, for example outlining our
general position to diplomats on issues such as geographic name
clashes and disputed borders ... we create a final draft that goes
to the board for endorsement.<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAM2wSz7EJ1P+bvB5NjDf+TRiGC074qWUPiS28Afzfrf2N082pw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> We haven't worked
out a precise framework for the scope of individual
associate members - it's not expected that all associate
members would participate in all parts of the LWG's
work.<br>
<br>
If associate members not having a vote would allow
people to help who would otherwise be in a conflict of
interest, that could be done too.</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>How often are votes actually held? Or is it mostly
consensus-based anyway?</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
Except for our circular resolutions experiments where it is
practical, I believe we have never actually had or needed a vote!
My general policy has been that we are deliberately a group of
people with disparate personal views, on for example what type of
license we should have, and that if we do not have unamimous
agreement, or at least assent, then we have not reached the right
solution.<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAM2wSz7EJ1P+bvB5NjDf+TRiGC074qWUPiS28Afzfrf2N082pw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Does the WG have formal legal obligations as a
committee of the board (or otherwise) or is it
informal/advisory? (To explain that another way: in some
organizations, groups like the LWG are board committees,
and so certain formal requirements apply to their members
— duties of good faith, attendance, voting rules, etc. In
some orgs, they are essentially purely advisory so have no
formal legal obligations.) <br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
Informal/advisory. It would be good to go beyond our scope document
above to formally define that ... something we could use help on!<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAM2wSz7EJ1P+bvB5NjDf+TRiGC074qWUPiS28Afzfrf2N082pw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thanks-</div>
<div>Luis</div>
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">Luis Villa<br>
Deputy General Counsel<br>
Wikimedia Foundation<br>
415.839.6885 ext. 6810<br>
<div><br>
</div>
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</div>
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<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
legal-talk mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:legal-talk@openstreetmap.org">legal-talk@openstreetmap.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/legal-talk">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/legal-talk</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
Mike<br>
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