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KDE League .... Inc. No Longer?
An anonymous reader writes "The corporate status of the KDE League, Inc., was revoked earlier this year by the Delaware Secretary of State when it failed to file necessary papers and pay fees, according to this report in Linux and Main. In addition, the organization seems to have overlooked financial disclosures that are supposed to be made public under federal law. And asked about it, the KDE League's chairman, Andreas Pour, refused to comment." Update: You can read a statement from Andreas here that explains what's going on. Thanks to Thomas Zander for the update.
Once before somebody had to pay the domain.
Besides, it will get off on the trial with paying nothing but some bribe money.
You want a comment from Dre:
here it is
The story is just more LinuxAndMain FUD about KDE
No, KDE e.V. owns the KDE trademark.
See http://www.kde.org/kde-ev/
Rather than comment myself, why not hear what Andreas Pour said today?
KDE-League is a not-for-profit company, which is vastly different than a nonproit company. A not for profit company does not have to file the stated IRS form, and can only disclose it's activities if all members of the board conset, which they have not. This is all explained in Dre's response.
I mod down any one who says "I'm sure I will get modded down for this"
A few corrections to assumptions by Dre:
1. The IRS makes no distinction between not-for-profit and non-profit. THe former is really just a more accurate term to describe a 501(c) organization. Any organization that doesn't make a profit is eventually going to go under without constant investment.
2. Any not-for-profit has to make available within 24 hours of the request a copy of there form 990 which details things like the top 5 highest paid employees, and a high level overview of there finances. If that is not furnished then requestor can file a complaint with the IRS.
3. The IRS tends to scrutinize not-for-profits more then regular corporations. Better be carefull.
Cheers, from a guy who has founded a not-for-profit corporation after six months of exhaustive research on the subject.
A Delaware franchise tax report is is a blue slip of paper about 8.5 inches wide and 4 inches high. Every year a Delaware corporation is required to complete the report by filling in the names of the company's officers, its address and the number and par value of its authorized shares (e.g., "the corporation is authorized to issue up to 1000 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share") -- that's about it. The franchise tax is computed based on the aggregate par value of the common stock (in my example, $10 = 1000 x $0.01). The franchise tax is _not_ an income tax and the report does not require reporting of a company's income or activities. The franchise tax assessible on even a large corporation is relatively modest -- this is one of the reasons Delaware is a desireable state to charter a corporation. As the Linux and Main article itself (which was a real hachet job) said, the KDE League's franchise tax owed was $20.
Forgetting to file a franchise tax report is a very common error. The Delaware Secretary of State's office sends the report form to the last known address, and if the address of the company has changed or, if the particular person at the company does not recognize that the uninteresting-looking envelope contains important information, it is easy to overlook it. Failure to file the report, even to the point of becoming terminated by the Delaware Secretary of State's office, tells me little about the KDE League.
You may or may not know this but dep (the author of this "article") has a problem with KDE. Basically here's what happened (I posted this on the Linuxtoday.com article about this as well):
1. KDE hosts an off-topic mailinglist (kde-cafe). There KDE-developers and users can talk about off-topic things (movies, politics etc.)
2. One KDE-developer (I don't remember which one) posted a message where he criticized Israel policies when it comes to the palestinians. He also voiced concern regarding some US policies as well.
3. Dep got involved in that discussion and he held an opposing viewpoint. During the course of the discussion he basically called everyone who disagreed with him and idiot.
4. He also decided that anyone who criticizes Israel is a nazi and an antisemite.
5. He then wrote a story for Linux and main where he claimed that several KDE core-developers are nazis and antisemites.
6. In reality, few KDE-developers simply criticized some of Israels policies in an off-topic mailinglist. That does not make them in to nazis.
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.