Tony Sebro Joins Conservancy as General Counsel

Conservancy Now Offers Basic Legal Services to All its Member Projects

September 30, 2011

The Software Freedom Conservancy is pleased to announce the addition of Tony Sebro as its full-time General Counsel. Tony joins Conservancy as our second full-time staffer, and will complement the variety of pro-bono and outside legal services that Conservancy already receives from an array of talented lawyers around the world. With the addition of a General Counsel, Conservancy now offers basic legal assistance to its member projects in addition to the many services Conservancy already provides.

Tony brings to Conservancy a wealth of legal knowledge relating to copyrights and trademarks, as well as many years of non-profit volunteerism. Tony is a seasoned technology attorney with a broad base of business and legal experience relating to technology, strategy, and business development. Tony worked previously in the position of Program Director, Technology & Intellectual Property at IBM, and earlier in his career practiced law in the New York office of Kenyon & Kenyon, LLP. Tony's full bio is available.

Tony joins an already vibrant group of attorneys who have for some time provided excellent part-time and/or pro-bono legal advice and assistance to Conservancy. Olivier Hugot, of HUGOTAVOCATS, has assisted Conservancy in many GPL compliance matters in France, and now serves as Conservancy's official French Counsel. Daniel B. Ravicher, who has worked for many years with Conservancy on its GPL enforcement efforts, continues to represent Conservancy in its current GPL enforcement litigation. Karen Sandler, who (via SFLC) provided regular pro-bono services to Conservancy since its inception, continues to provide occasional pro-bono work while she focuses on her role as Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation. Brendan Scott of Open Source Law in Sydney, Australia gives Conservancy occasional pro-bono advice on copyright issues in Australia and assists in Conservancy's GPL enforcement efforts there.

With this excellent team of pro-bono counsel, outside counsel, and now a full-time General Counsel, Conservancy is very pleased to announce that basic legal services, including advice on trademarks, copyrights, software licensing and non-profit governance issues, are now officially included in the services offered to Conservancy's member projects. Conservancy had previously found various ways to route legal services to some of its projects, but traditionally most projects were not assured of such services upon joining Conservancy. However, Conservancy can now provide such service as an official benefit for projects that become part of the Conservancy. Over the coming years, Conservancy hopes to continue to increase its service plan for its member projects, and seeks to remain a full-service fiscal sponsorship organization for Free, Libre, and Open Source Software projects.

Please direct inquiries and interview requests to <press@sfconservancy.org>.