On 28 Feb 2017, at 10:11, Agner Fog <agner@agner.org> wrote:

Mirko Boehm wrote:
I cannot speak for FSFE, but I think the setup can be made simpler: Anybody can donate to FSFE. Just ask them to provide proof of the donation, and then you give them a license. This way you don’t need any kind of organisation, and no arrangement for handling money.
Yes, but the FSF or FSFE still has to endorse such a scheme because the donors will ask all kind of questions about license conditions, pro forma invoices, and other technicalities.

FSFE hands out donation receipts. You can say “I will issue a proprietary license if you deliver a donation receipt from FSFE”. The donation receipt is sufficient for the accounting of the donor. That is what I meant when I tried to explain to use a setup that does not connect the donation to the license. The details are of course up to you.

A scheme with selling proprietary license requires a unification of the copyright. Who should own the copyright, me, FSF, or all contributors? I would prefer to avoid such problems by making donation voluntary.

If you issue the proprietary licenses, *you* need to have permission to do so. Either the contributors assign that right to you (by granting you a license, for example) or somebody else (FSF(E)) can be the copyright fiduciary but would still have to grant you that right. The author remains the copyright owner, in most cases.

Is it common to assign the copyright to FSF, even when FSF has nothing to do with the project? I can see the advantage of unifying the copyright, but also administrative burdens on FSF, and potentials for abuse.

I would not think this makes sense in such a scenario. If FSF denies you the right to hand out proprietary licenses, then what?

Cheers,

Mirko.

--
Mirko Boehm | mirko@kde.org | KDE e.V.
FSFE Fellow, FSFE Team Germany
Qt Certified Specialist

Request a meeting: https://doodle.com/mirkoboehm