[vox] Help - Installfest info, & legal, text examples?

[john_re]

Hey Bob! How you doin? :)  I think we've met & talked more than once, at
one of the LUGOD meetings 2-5 years ago. :)

On Fri, 8 May 2009 21:37:28 -0700, "Bob Scofield" <scofield at omsoft.com>
> >
> > Do you know how that legal release form got created?  Did someone there
> > consult a lawyer? If yes, what lawyer? If no, how did it get created?
> >
> > Any other tips for howto go about understanding the issues, & getting a
> > proper legal release created? - btw, that form looks good to me, but
> > ianal, so i'm in no position to evaluate its appropriateness.
> 
> I drafted LUGOD's original release.  I'm not sure the present one is
> exactly 
> the same as the one I drafted.  
> 
> I looked at the most recent one a couple of years ago because it was my 
> feeling that the release should be changed.  I was thinking it should be 
> changed because in the old days people used to bring desktops to the 
> Installfest.  I used to help carry these into the Installfest room seeing
> as 
> how I don't have enough technical expertise to be of use in any other way 
> (okay well maybe I can do the pizza run) and was worried about dropping 
> machines.  So I wanted the release changed to cover the dropping of 
> equipment.
> 
> However, the release was not changed.  In part that was because LUGOD
> stopped 
> using the release for its Installfests; at least for the last couple that 
> I've been to.  And I haven't seen anyone bring a desktop to an
> Installfest 
> for a long time.
> 
> When I last saw the release it looked like it may have been changed.  I'm
> not 
> sure.  I am unable to find the original release on this computer.
> 
> I am a lawyer, but not the release-drafting kind.  I'm presently a legal 
> research and writing lawyer for criminal defense attorneys.
> 
> I have drafted other releases.  I drafted one for a Woodland High School
> over- 
> night party.  I will probably be drafting one for two backpacking trips
> I'm 
> planning for a group.
> 
> I probably went to a form book to get a basic release.  (Not the kind you 
> might find in a stationary store, but the kind you find in a law
> library.)  I 
> know I also did some legal research for one or more of the releases I've 
> drafted.  Thus after reading a case or two I might change a form release. 
> (And I also learned that in California some of the releases are not 
> enforceable; for certain types of activities.  My son once signed one
> that I 
> knew could not be enforced.)  I also might change a release to make it
> more 
> clear.

Care to make any updates?  Or some suggestions for a BerkeleyTIP
release?
http://sites.google.com/site/berkeleytip/installfest
(That link might change soon to something like
"installfest-referenceInfo".)

If you care to look at any other major LUGs (which might have release
info, or installfest info) some of the largest ones in the US that I
know of are:
CO CLUE, GA ALE, IL chicagolug.org, MA BLU, MD BALTOLUG, MI MDLUG, NC
TRILUG, NY NYLUG, OR PLUG, TX ALG, VA NOVALUG, WA GSLUG.

> 
> The best person to draft a release would be an attorney who practices
> personal 
> injury law.  Such a lawyer would know what is important to include in a 
> release from a legal point of view, though he or she might not make it as 
> clear as I would want one, seeing as how lay people are the ones who sign 
> them.
> 
> Bob

Also, are there any law related free sw sites  (maybe ones you look at
occasionally?) 
For example, here's a medical site.
http://linuxmednews.com/index_html