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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 organi

by spenvo 12y ago

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.

codezero 12y ago
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) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501(c)
- thefreeman 12y ago
  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-league-given-tax-exempt-status/ 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.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
dragonwriter 12y ago
> The NFL is considered a non-profit organization by the IRS, yet all of the teams which associate with its branding reap enormous profits. 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.
snowwrestler 12y ago
The NFL is not a great example as they have a specific exemption that Congress wrote into the law just for them.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  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.
  - pessimizer 12y ago
    501(c)(6) is specifically written for specific exemptions. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopick03.pdf 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.
dragonwriter 12y ago
> How should all organizations which happen to open-source code automatically be "for profit" They aren't. See, inter alia, the Apache Software Foundation. "BOLO" doesn't mean "blanket prohibition".

by spenvo 12y ago

codezero 12y ago

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) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501(c)

thefreeman 12y ago
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-league-given-tax-exempt-status/ 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.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

dragonwriter 12y ago

> The NFL is considered a non-profit organization by the IRS, yet all of the teams which associate with its branding reap enormous profits. 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.

snowwrestler 12y ago

The NFL is not a great example as they have a specific exemption that Congress wrote into the law just for them.

dragonwriter 12y ago
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.
- pessimizer 12y ago
  501(c)(6) is specifically written for specific exemptions. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopick03.pdf 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.

dragonwriter 12y ago

> How should all organizations which happen to open-source code automatically be "for profit" They aren't. See, inter alia, the Apache Software Foundation. "BOLO" doesn't mean "blanket prohibition".