OpenID Foundation/Board/Minutes/2007-05-03
Present:
- Martin Atkins (note-taker)
- Artur Bergman
- Johannes Ernst
- Dick Hardt
- Scott Kveton
- David Recordon
- Gabe Wachob
- Bill Washburn (moderating)
Apologies:
- Drummond Reed (on a plane)
Contents |
Agenda
- Bylaws
- Bill's Position
- IPR
- IIW
IPR
The draft IPR policy had previously been circulated by various means including the wiki and the mailing list.
Gabe also reported that opinions had been requested from IBM, Sun, Microsoft, Symantec and VeriSign.
It was suggested that an session related to OpenID IPR be held at the impending IIW conference.
Some concerns were raised that the policy as written was heading towards OpenID Foundation acting as a standards body, at least partially. Another big concern is what happens to IPR relating to mailing list contributions.
It was reported that Microsoft specifically doesn't want to offer up anything that they are forced to licence but may not ultimately be included in the specification.
A suggestion was made to adopt a simple policy where any IPR created via the mailing list is assigned to the Foundation and if anything is proposed any relevant IPR obligations must be disclosed.
However, it was noted that Microsoft want to licence without disclosing. They are against mandatory disclosure.
Will loop back next week and follow this up.
Bill's Employment Proposal
Last week Bill asked if we could come to an agreement before IIW on how to pay him for his position as Executive Director.
Bill posted a proposal to the mailing list.
The first concern raised is that it may be too early to commit to a particular deal until the foundation has more concrete plans surrounding funding and potential funding levels.
Bill agreed that it's understandable to wait until there is money in the bank.
It was agreed that Dick, in his capacity as treasurer, would discuss this in more detail will Bill out of band.
Dick left the call at this point.
Bylaws and Committees
Bill reported that David McConnell from our law firm is currently drafting a skeleton bylaws document from which we can build, and then the articles of incorporation can be submitted.
David McConnell wanted to make sure that we are entirely comfortable with the statement of the organisation's purposes. Scott and Bill suggested something general as the statement with the footnote that there would be a more elaborate statement accessible on a website that would be kept up to date. David McConnell said that was perhaps a bit edgy for the legal system but it'd probably be workable.
Articles of incorporation can be turned around in about a day.
IIW
Several ideas were raised for IIW:
- A short live presentation introducing the presentation, presented by Bill, and then an interactive session where people can ask questions about it.
- If incorporated by then it may be possible to sort out individuals joining on the spot during the conference.
- Swag, such as the developer tools CD.
- Take copies of the IPR draft for reference and distribution.
- Flyers for the foundation.
It was agreed that David and Bill work work together to put together some flyers about the foundation for distribution at IIW.
JanRain Involvement
Since Scott is no longer working for JanRain, the question was raised about what JanRain's involvement will now be.
Scott reported that JanRain still wishes to participate and be involved.
The point was raised that in the general case we need to make sure that we can communicate with all organisations that do not have board representation.
Minutes
All outstanding minutes were unanimously approved by all present.
Other Business
Bill raised the point that the ED should be a non-voting member of the board. This was agreed.
