The NFL is considered a non-profit organization by the IRS, yet all of the teams which associate with its branding reap enormous profits.
How should all organizations which happen to open-source code automatically be "for profit" just because some other companies might use such code for commercial purposes? The two examples are very similar but the NFL is non-profit. If the precedent is set, the damage to the FLOSS movement would be real and lasting.
To be clear, there are significant differences with the legal classifications of various non-profits. 501(c)(3) is much different from 501(c)(6) (the NFL is (6)) I am not a lawyer so I don't know what the differences are, but it's possible/likely that if someone was going for a different kind of non-profit the rules would change dramatically, so they can't quite be compared apples to apples.
So I was curious about this and looked up some more information on it (the NFL tax exemption).
Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the exemption of business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, boards of trade and professional football leagues, which are not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
The NFL is, IIRC, a fairly bog-standard 501(c)(6). Are you think of an anti-trust exemption rather than a nonprofit status exemption? I know that MLB has the former, and I think the NFL does as well.
"IRC 501(c)(6) provides for exemption of business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, boards of trade, and professional football leagues (whether or not administering a pension fund for football players), which are not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual."
Of specific interest is the "Statutory History" section on page four - a history of private organizations asking for exemptions.
Comments
The NFL is considered a non-profit organization by the IRS, yet all of the teams which associate with its branding reap enormous profits.
How should all organizations which happen to open-source code automatically be "for profit" just because some other companies might use such code for commercial purposes? The two examples are very similar but the NFL is non-profit. If the precedent is set, the damage to the FLOSS movement would be real and lasting.
To be clear, there are significant differences with the legal classifications of various non-profits. 501(c)(3) is much different from 501(c)(6) (the NFL is (6)) I am not a lawyer so I don't know what the differences are, but it's possible/likely that if someone was going for a different kind of non-profit the rules would change dramatically, so they can't quite be compared apples to apples.
see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501(c)
So I was curious about this and looked up some more information on it (the NFL tax exemption).
Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the exemption of business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, boards of trade and professional football leagues, which are not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
http://sportsfans.org/2012/03/why-is-the-national-football-l...
One more needle to add to the haystack of bull shit from my government I put up with.
The NFL is not a great example as they have a specific exemption that Congress wrote into the law just for them.
The NFL is, IIRC, a fairly bog-standard 501(c)(6). Are you think of an anti-trust exemption rather than a nonprofit status exemption? I know that MLB has the former, and I think the NFL does as well.
501(c)(6) is specifically written for specific exemptions.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopick03.pdf
"IRC 501(c)(6) provides for exemption of business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, boards of trade, and professional football leagues (whether or not administering a pension fund for football players), which are not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual."
Of specific interest is the "Statutory History" section on page four - a history of private organizations asking for exemptions.
The NFL is a 501(c)(6) trade association, so that's expected. Its not a 501(c)(3) charity.
The rules are completely different.
They aren't. See, inter alia, the Apache Software Foundation. "BOLO" doesn't mean "blanket prohibition".