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Grex > Coop13 > #36: Grex Board of Director’s Meeting 11/25/03 | |
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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 82 responses total. |
aruba
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response 13 of 82:
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Nov 27 06:33 UTC 2003 |
I think Grex should be prepared to pay for a call that a board member makes
in order to participate in a board meeting. I also think it would be
great if someone donated that.
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other
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response 14 of 82:
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Nov 27 07:01 UTC 2003 |
And better yet if someone was already paying for a service plan
which made it cost nothing extra to do. ;)
But I agree that Grex should be prepared to pay that cost. However,
that potentiality may bias the election against remote board
members. :(
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jp2
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response 15 of 82:
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Nov 27 13:14 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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i
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response 16 of 82:
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Nov 27 13:37 UTC 2003 |
Trademarks:
From brief research a couple years ago, my recollection is that a U.S.
Trademark winds up costing quite a bit - on the order of $4K. But a
Michigan Trademark is cheap - on the order of $40.
Either one gives you a dug-in prime location in the corresponding legal
battlefield - which is NOT immunity from a big/expensive army of enemy
lawyers (especially if you can't afford much legal muscle yourself), but
*usually* makes you secure 'cause it's cheaper for them to avoid a fight.
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keesan
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response 17 of 82:
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Nov 27 15:06 UTC 2003 |
Should there be a limit of one remote board member if there will be only one
phone line?
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aruba
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response 18 of 82:
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Nov 27 16:18 UTC 2003 |
Sindi - if ther's more than one, I'm sure we can find a way to deal with it,
through a conference call.
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jp2
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response 19 of 82:
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Nov 27 16:23 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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keesan
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response 20 of 82:
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Nov 27 23:13 UTC 2003 |
How do conference calls work? If two remote members phone can they hear each
other?
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gelinas
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response 21 of 82:
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Nov 28 00:50 UTC 2003 |
Yes, they can, Sindi.
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scg
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response 22 of 82:
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Dec 1 01:03 UTC 2003 |
My limited understanding of trademark law is that registration just makes use
of the trademark easier to document. Given that Grex has been using its
trademarks very publicly for quite a while, simply declaring them to be
trademarks (and putting "TM" after the trademarks when written) should be just
as good.
Neither registration or a "common law trademark" means anything if it's not
enforced. The important legal step to maintaining a trademark is to
consistently have a lawyer send "cease and desist" letters to anybody who
infringes on the trademark, and to back those letters up with lawsuits if they
aren't complied with.
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richard
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response 23 of 82:
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Dec 1 05:41 UTC 2003 |
could a non-local board member simply arrange to be logged into grex on a
private party channel? Then whoever has the laptop can be responsible for
keeping the logged in user appraised of the dicussion, and to note the
non-local user's vote. Since the party transcripts are logged anyway, it
shouldn't matter much so long as someone reads the user's comments tha the/she
is typing to the rest of the room...
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other
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response 24 of 82:
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Dec 1 07:07 UTC 2003 |
The by-laws require voice participation.
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willcome
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response 25 of 82:
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Dec 1 07:22 UTC 2003 |
VOIP!
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bhoward
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response 26 of 82:
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Dec 1 13:43 UTC 2003 |
I assume that if elected to the board, I would carry the LD charges of calling
in from Japan since I would be calling into the meeting, not the other way
around.
Any idea what the local access charges would be for the person supplying the
cell phone?
In any case, it would be nicer if participation could take place via
i-chat or the like using zingerman's wireless access.
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tod
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response 27 of 82:
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Dec 1 14:43 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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bhelliom
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response 28 of 82:
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Dec 1 15:59 UTC 2003 |
Hopefully a solution can be worked out that isn't prohibitive on both
sides. As for the sell phone charges, my guess is that it would depend
on the service in use.
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bhelliom
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response 29 of 82:
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Dec 1 16:00 UTC 2003 |
oops. Cell phone, damn it!
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willcome
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response 30 of 82:
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Dec 1 19:25 UTC 2003 |
Remember: If jp2 gets elected, Grex'll end up paying big bucks. Is he worth
it?
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mynxcat
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response 31 of 82:
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Dec 1 19:42 UTC 2003 |
I think some people misunderstood what I was trying to say. My concern
about call charges stemmed from the fact that it was stated that
a "cell-phone" may be used to take the incoming call from the non-
local board member. All minutes for incoming calls on a cell phone are
counted as air-time minutes and may be charged or are included in
the "Free" minutes on the phone plan. While I believe that the non-
local member should be responsible for any long-distance charges
incurred when they call into the meeting, my concern is who would be
held responsible for air-time minutes for the incoming calls.
Yes, the person whose cell-phone it is could treat it as a donation
and get the tax-deduction. But I'd like to see a more permanent
solution, one that didn't depend on someone's donation of cell-time,
or even depending on the fact that there is a cell-phone present at
the meeting. (And while we're on it, if a cell-phone is being used,
then it would make more sense for the board to call the non-local
member rather than the other way around. This way only the cell-phone
charges would be incurred, and the non-local member wouldn't have to
pay for it. But this is not what I'm driving at)
The whole internet thing using Zingerman's wireless access seems
viable, if it works, but again, we need to be certain that there is
computer access at the meeting. Or maybe moving the meeting location
to someone's house with a land-line.
Has this issue been discussed in the board-meeting? Or are we certain
that no non-local member would get elected anyways, making this a moot
point? ;)
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mynxcat
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response 32 of 82:
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Dec 1 19:43 UTC 2003 |
RE 30> Take that to the mud-slinging item.
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tod
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response 33 of 82:
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Dec 1 20:31 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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mynxcat
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response 34 of 82:
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Dec 1 23:00 UTC 2003 |
The part about Board's meeting place having "wired" capability seemed
to have been resolved with Zingerman's wireless access.
Could Zingerman provide a land-line that could be used, do you think?
I know it's a long shot, and I don't know how it's set up...
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other
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response 35 of 82:
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Dec 1 23:03 UTC 2003 |
Given the small likelihood that their accounting system is set up to
deal with such a thing, I'd consider it unlikely.
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mary
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response 36 of 82:
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Dec 1 23:39 UTC 2003 |
I'm looking into these issues and hope to have some answers
by the next board meeting, mid-December. I'll enter it here
too. Advice is very welcome.
Some of the possibilities include cell to cell, but speaker capability
gets weird here unless you're in a car. Even then, the quality is sucky.
Cell to a standard speaker phone looks easy enough although this may mean
we'd not be able to meet at Zing's. Still working on it. I don't think
use of limitless or mega-minutes would be an issue for anyone on either
end. I really don't think Grex needs a dedicated cell phone.
But the connection that intrigues me the most would have us using Internet
voice via computer - essentially using a computer to call our remote user
on his or her telephone. A number of companies offer this service,
supplying the software for free, and you purchase connection time in
advance. Airtime for calls to Japan run from 5-11 cents a minute, so a
board meeting would cost somewhere around $7.00. Doable, for sure. We'd
need find a low end laptop with a soundcard. I'd put Sindi on that one.
;-) Then we plug in a $12 microphone, and start talking. I think.
Anyhow, I'm not sure how Zing's would feel about our using their bandwidth
in this fashion, but I'm about to find out.
Then there is the possibility of using conferencing facilities at New
Center, WCC, or even Kinko's. But that may be way over the top of what we
can afford. It may be worth looking into that too.
I've send mail to all the remote candidates asking them how
they'd like to connect, should they get elected. Not everyone
has responded but it's only been a few days.
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cmcgee
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response 37 of 82:
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Dec 2 01:18 UTC 2003 |
Evil MSN has voice messaging technology built into its free Instant Messenger
service.
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