[tdf-announce] The Document Foundation officially incorporated in Berlin, Germany

The Document Foundation officially incorporated in Berlin, Germany

New entity has been legally created on February 17th, 2012
German Stiftung to provide strong and enduring rights for the 
LibreOffice community

Berlin, February 20th, 2012. The Document Foundation today announces 
that it has been officially incorporated in the state of Berlin, 
Germany. The legal form of the entity is a German "rechtsfähige Stiftung 
des bürgerlichen Rechts", a form based on the governance model the 
LibreOffice community has chosen. On Friday afternoon, February 17th, 
the incorporation certificate, signed by the state secretary, has been 
handed over by the authorities. With this legal act, the entity 
officially came to life and is legally recognized.

A picture shortly after the reception of the incorporation certificate, 
and a copy of the certificate itself, is available at 
http://tdfsc.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/incorporation2.png
The legally binding German version of the statutes are available at 
http://www.documentfoundation.org/satzung.pdf
For convenience, an English translation of the statutes, which is not 
legally binding, is available at 
http://www.documentfoundation.org/statutes.pdf

"We are proud of having achieved this major milestone. During the last 
months, we have been working extensively to incorporate the bylaws into 
legally binding statutes, to provide a stable and safe basis for our 
future" said Thorsten Behrens, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the new 
Foundation. He adds: "Our primary focus was on the membership element. 
Those who are approved members have inalienable, strong rights, embedded 
into the statutes. Since we have been aiming to be a German Stiftung, 
those rights are guaranteed by law, and enforced by the authorities. The 
Document Foundation is the legal affirmation of the community spirit - 
an entity by the community, for the community, and an entity independent 
from any single vendor."

Michael (Mike) Schinagl, a Berlin-based lawyer who has been working on 
the incorporation process, explained: "The creation of such a Foundation 
is unique in the history of free software. There are not many, if any, 
entities that guarantee such strong rights to active contributors. 
Embedding those into legal language was a tremendous task, but one that 
was very worthwile. The Foundation and its statutes provide the ideal 
grounds for a free office ecosystem, including users, developers, 
marketeers, adopters, service providers and many, many more, and they 
can serve as an example for other communities with similar goals."

The donor is the German nonprofit association Freies Office Deutschland 
e.V., formerly OpenOffice.org Deutschland e.V., which acted as interim 
legal entity from the very beginning. Thomas Krumbein, its Chairman, is 
grateful: "Our sincere thanks goes out to the Berlin authorities for 
their helpful cooperation in the past months, and for their flexibility 
and enormous support in achieving the community’s goals. Berlin has 
definitely made a landmark decision by approving The Document 
Foundation. Freies Office Deutschland e.V. is proud to be the donor of 
this important entity, and we look forward to working together with the 
new Foundation to the benefit of all users and contributors."

André Schnabel, Chairman of the Membership Committee, stated the 
Foundation’s openness: "I am sure we will see the community prospering 
and growing even more, now that the legal entity has been created. 
Finally, after nearly 12 years, the community has created a Foundation 
that ideally fits to its needs, that is vendor-neutral, that provides 
safety, builds trust, and that sends out a strong sign of stability to 
all stakeholders. I would like to repeat our honest invitation to 
everyone interested in the future of free office suites, to join The 
Document Foundation, no matter if you are an individual volunteer, 
employee of a software vendor or support our activities with help from 
local non-profit organizations."

The home of The Document Foundation is at http://www.documentfoundation.org
LibreOffice, the free office suite, has its home at 
http://www.libreoffice.org

Note to editors: A "Stiftung" is a German Foundation established with an 
endowment and supported by state authorities. See 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_%28non-profit%29#Germany for 
more details. In addition, "bürgerlichen Rechts" indicates it is a fully 
independent Foundation with long-term intent and independent finances.


Media Contacts for The Document Foundation

Florian Effenberger (based near Munich, Germany, UTC+1)
Phone: +49 8341 99660880
Mobile: +49 151 14424108
E-mail: floeff@documentfoundation.org
Skype: floeff

Olivier Hallot (based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, UTC-3)
Mobile: +55 21 88228812
E-mail: olivier.hallot@documentfoundation.org

Charles H. Schulz (based in Paris, France, UTC+1)
Mobile: +33 6 98655424
E-mail: charles.schulz@documentfoundation.org

Italo Vignoli (based in Milan, Italy, UTC+1)
Phone: +39 02 320621813
Mobile: +39 348 5653829
E-mail: italo.vignoli@documentfoundation.org
Skype: italovignoli
Google Talk: italo.vignoli@gmail.com


Media Contact for Freies Office Deutschland e.V.

Thomas Krumbein (based in Wiesbaden, Germany, UTC+1)
Phone: +49 611 1885339
E-mail: t.krumbein@frodev.org
Web: http://www.frodev.org

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