- Inkscape Board of Directors

Linux Fund and sponsoring work on the text tool
by Ted Gould 11 Sep '09

11 Sep '09

Hello Board, So Linux Fund who has volunteered some funds to help sponsor development on our text tool has not received the matching that they would need to pay for the full development cost. They would like to either fund it, or free up the funds by the end of their fiscal year, which is the end of this month. The difference is $630. They would like the foundation to pay the difference. I have very mixed feelings on this. While it seems like a very small amount to pay for a feature that is weak in Inkscape, I'm also concerned about the prescient that it sets as we certainly don't have the money to fund development regularly. Though, there are already "funded" developers working on Inkscape through GSoC even though there are major restrictions on the eligibility by having to be enrolled in school. Lastly, there are some political implications. Linux Fund has volunteered to help us, turning this down probably would mean that they wouldn't make that offer again. I don't believe that to be a major downside, but also something that should be considered. I'm proposing that we do a simple vote on it. How about votes due by Sunday evening? Depending on that I'll either write a nice e-mail to Linux Fund thanking them for their generosity or ask the Software Conservancy to send the money. --Ted

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Re: [Inkscape-board] the LF contract
by Ted Gould 02 Sep '09

02 Sep '09

On Tue, 2009-09-01 at 22:32 +0400, Alexandre Prokoudine wrote: > Back in February we and Linux Foundation announced sponsoring Milosz > Derezynski to work on the text tool. > > I see that according to http://www.linuxfund.org/projects/inkscape/ > there simply wasn't enough funding. Maybe the Inkscape committee could > discuss this and sponsor the project? Our Text tool really demands > attention. The Linux Fund folks and Bradley from the conservancy discussed that, and they said that it is possible. Personally, I'm just a little concerned about paying developers in general. I realize that this is a small situation -- but I guess I worry about the precedent there. --Ted PS - CC'ing the board list.

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Inkscape name/logo trademarking
by Ted Gould 27 Jan '09

27 Jan '09

Hey all, I got of the phone from the lawyer from SFLC and they're going to help us in trademarking the logo and name. I just wanted to write an e-mail to make sure I'm not screwing it up :) Name: Inkscape Phrase: Draw Freely Logo: /usr/share/inkscape/icons/inkscape.svg They are going to do a trademark search to ensure that no one else has trademarked anything similar (to the point where we'd need to differentiate) and come up with a "category" for us to file in (I'm guessing it'll be "computer graphics"). Thoughts after that will be to get a usage policy built that is fairly simple but ensures that Adobe can't make "Adobe Inkscape" without asking us first :) Any issues? --Ted

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The use of Inkscape icons in T-shirt design
by heathenx 12 Aug '08

12 Aug '08

I emailed Ted Gould a few days ago inquiring if it would be alright to use Inkscape icons in a promotional t-shirt for the 2008 Ohio LinuxFest. I wasn't sure who else to ask and since I just recently talked with Ted through an email on another matter I thought he might be the right guy. Ted suggested that I contact the Inkscape-board mailing list so here it goes. Below is my original text from the email that I sent Ted without his reply.: ################################################################################# Ted, I am not sure who else to ask from the Inkscape group. Perhaps you can help me with a question. Richard Querin and I run a website (screencasters.heathenx.org) that is dedicated to teaching the basics of Inkscape. We may not be the best teachers but it's all that we know how to do in terms to spreading the use of Inkscape. Anyway, I will be attending this years Ohio LinuxFest just as an attendee and what Richard and I wanted to do is print up a few t-shirts to give away in order to promote our website (and in turn promte Inkscape indirectly). We had a few concepts that are questionable in terms of legal use. We thought it would be neat to have a spoof of a t-shirt that is sold by Jinx. Instead of the game icons we would use Inkscape icons. Of course we wondered if it was morally and legally the right thing to do since we are not affiliated in any shape or form to the Inkscape project. I attached an image of the concept for you to review. Can you give us any input here? We certainly do not want to upset the very project that we both love. Abandoning this t-shirt design is not the slightest problem. We have plenty more ideas that would not infringe on Inkscape. Thank-you. Regards, heathenx ################################################################################# The last thing that Richard and I want to do is offend the Inkscape project. We certainly want to play by the rules. So what does everyone think? Is this okay? Ted suggested that I might have to offer up the svg file that is attached if we decide to use this t-shirt design. I don't have a problem with that. I would appreciate your input. Regards, heathenx PS. Again, we intend to give a limited amount of these t-shirts away at the show. We will not be charging for them. However, we may end up setting up a CafePress store in the future and may or may not offer this specific shirt for sale...if any of that matters.

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Re: [Inkscape-board] The use of Inkscape icons in T-shirt design
by Bryce Harrington 11 Aug '08

11 Aug '08

I think that should be fine. It looks like you're using the toolbar icons, which are GPL'd and not trademarked in any way. (In fact, I'm not sure they're even particular to Inkscape.) Selling the shirts is fine too - the GPL doesn't forbid charging money for GPL'd stuff (thus why Linux distros can sell CD's of GPL software) so there's no moral or legal issue at all. If you want to be 100% legit, just post the SVG of your t-shirt design on your website licensed under GPL and you should be 100% fine. Bryce On Mon, Aug 04, 2008 at 09:07:47PM -0400, heathenx wrote: > I emailed Ted Gould a few days ago inquiring if it would be alright to > use Inkscape icons in a promotional t-shirt for the 2008 Ohio LinuxFest. > I wasn't sure who else to ask and since I just recently talked with Ted > through an email on another matter I thought he might be the right guy. > Ted suggested that I contact the Inkscape-board mailing list so here it > goes. Below is my original text from the email that I sent Ted without > his reply.: > > ################################################################################# > > Ted, > > I am not sure who else to ask from the Inkscape group. Perhaps you can help me with a question. > > Richard Querin and I run a website (screencasters.heathenx.org) that is > dedicated to teaching the basics of Inkscape. We may not be the best > teachers but it's all that we know how to do in terms to spreading the > use of Inkscape. Anyway, I will be attending this years Ohio LinuxFest > just as an attendee and what Richard and I wanted to do is print up a few > t-shirts to give away in order to promote our website (and in turn promte > Inkscape indirectly). We had a few concepts that are questionable in > terms of legal use. We thought it would be neat to have a spoof of a > t-shirt that is sold by Jinx. Instead of the game icons we would use > Inkscape icons. Of course we wondered if it was morally and legally the > right thing to do since we are not affiliated in any shape or form to the > Inkscape project. I attached an image of the concept for you to review. > Can you give us any input here? We certainly do not want to upset the > very project that we both love. Abandoning this t-shirt design is not the > slightest problem. We have plenty more ideas that would not infringe on > Inkscape. > > Thank-you. > > Regards, > > heathenx > > ################################################################################# > > The last thing that Richard and I want to do is offend the Inkscape > project. We certainly want to play by the rules. So what does everyone > think? Is this okay? Ted suggested that I might have to offer up the svg > file that is attached if we decide to use this t-shirt design. I don't > have a problem with that. > > I would appreciate your input. > > Regards, > > heathenx > > PS. Again, we intend to give a limited amount of these t-shirts away at > the show. We will not be charging for them. However, we may end up > setting up a CafePress store in the future and may or may not offer this > specific shirt for sale...if any of that matters.

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Re: [Inkscape-board] The use of Inkscape icons in T-shirt design
by Bryce Harrington 11 Aug '08

11 Aug '08

On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 04:21:48PM -0500, Aaron Spike wrote: > Ted Gould wrote: > > I have no problem with this, and I think the shirts are cool. The only > > requirement for me is that we need someway for me to order one ;) > > > > +1 > > I'm +1 too. But what's the licensing on our icons? I seem to remember a > mailing list thread about that. GPL'd, same as the source code. (Anything can be put under the GPL despite the code-specific wording of the license - the G stands for General after all.) So draw the analogy to source code - someone is free to reuse part of the inkscape codebase for any purpose including charging for it so long as they abide by the GPL - the derivative needs to be GPL'd and the source needs to be available. Bryce

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Insurance?
by Jon A. Cruz 25 Mar '08

25 Mar '08

LugRadio got in touch with me with more details for April 12-13, and among them was this info on insurance: > Every exhibitor needs to send us a copy of your Certificate of Liability > Insurance certificate. We're told you need one to exhibit at an event > like this in the US. You can email us a PDF copy to this address. If you > don't have one, can't get one or don't know what one is then you should > definitely get in touch and we'll see what the fall-back position is for > you. What do people know about this? Thanks.

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[Fwd: Inkscape at LugRadio Live USA 2008]
by Ted Gould 10 Mar '08

10 Mar '08

Hey guys, So I got this e-mail, which is kinda interesting. I don't know about attending the event though. I don't think that I can attend the event. And considering I don't know that we have anyone local in SF, it would probably involve sponsoring someone to go. It seems like a good offer, but I don't believe that we can have a booth. I wanted to see what others thought. --Ted -------- Forwarded Message -------- From: LUG Radio <lugradio@...23...> Hi Ted I believe you spoke to Jono Bacon at SCALE, so I thought I'd contact you about exhibiting Inkscape at LugRadio Live USA 2008. Below is the email we have been sending to exhibitors. Please get in back in touch if you think you could make it. You may or may not be aware, the very first LugRadio Live USA in 2008 is taking place at The Metreon in San Francisco. The event will be happening on the 12th and 13th April 2008, and will provide the unique atmosphere of the UK event, but in glorious San Francisco. LugRadio Live has developed a strong reputation for providing a range of topics about free software, Open Source, digital rights, technology and more, a compelling list of speakers, exhibitors and birds of a feather sessions, and wrapping it all in a unique, fun, loose, social and inclusive event, which is often described as combining the atmosphere of a rock concert and a computer conference. At LugRadio Live USA 2008 we plan on bringing this unique atmosphere to the USA, and inviting around 30 speakers, a full cast of exhibiting projects and companies, an eclectic range of BOF sessions, and plenty of additional sessions such as our debate discussion panel, a showcase of five minute talks, tech demos, and of course a live recording of LugRadio in front of an audience. We expect around 500 - 700 attendees to the event. Anyway, to the business in hand... As mentioned, we'll be having an exhibition area where we want to have projects and companies who do cool things. In the past we've had open source projects showing off their work such as KDE, Gnome, and Ubuntu, companies who work with Linux like Neuros, and distributors like Sun, Red Hat and Novell. We were wondering whether you'd be interested in having an exhibition stand at the event this year? Exhibitor space is free; we don't charge, because LugRadio Live is a community event. The focus is on people having a great time, not in making money :-) We'd like it if your exhibition stand could be something fun and interactive, rather than just a table with leaflets and advertising. Another thing: as part of the event, we provide each attendee with a registration bag, containing some free items from different organisations. We try to keep the items in this bag as interesting as possible, and in the past this has included pens, badges, software, clothing and more. If you'd like to contribute something to the bag this year for LugRadio Live USA 2008, we'd be happy to include it. Both the goodie bag and an exhibition stand are excellent ways for you to be associated with a strongly community and Open Source focused event, and the demographic it attracts. For the bag, we will need 500 of whatever you choose to contribute, and all you need to do is ship them to us, there is no charge in addition to sending the items - we will add them to the bags ready for the event. LugRadio Live in the UK has developed a strong reputation for being 'the' community event in the UK, and we are looking to bring this to USA. We would love if you could be one of the organisations who helped make this happen. :) If you're not the right person to ask about attending, we'd be grateful if you could either pass it on to the right person for us or get back in touch to let us know who to contact. Any questions or queries, feel free to drop us an email in reply to this email, and we really hope you can be a part of the event. :) Thanks! Adam Sweet and the LugRadio Team

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SCALE and my attendance
by Joshua A. Andler 29 Jan '08

29 Jan '08

Hello board, In talking with Ted about this, it seems like it's worth bringing forth to the board. Due to some issues out of my control, I won't have available funds to attend SCALE this year. As sad as it was, I could live with not going. However, they've now offered us 4 hours of classroom time (2 sessions that are 2 hours each, one for basic usage, the other for advanced usage). We do typically have Ted, John Taber, Jon Cruz, and myself there to man the booth. But, out of all 4 of us, I am probably best qualified to teach the classes as I know inkscape extremely well from a user perspective and have used it fairly extensively for illustration, design, etc. So, I am requesting if the board would approve funding my attendance this year to teach the classes (as well as all of my regular duties there). I've estimated the cost to be $500 for the hotel+taxes & gas to get to LA & back. If this is something that other board members would agree to it would help make for a really great conference this year. -Josh

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Stepping down
by njh 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

Dear chaps, As much as I appreciate being on the Inkscape board of directors, now that I work for Adobe it is a conflict of interest for me to remain here. Please accept my resignation and good wishes for the future. One day I may return and I hope that you'll look after our child in the meantime. njh

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