01 February 2012, 16:38

The Document Foundation to be established in Berlin

TDF logo

The legal entity intended in its manifesto to own the assets and conduct the financial and legal affairs of the The Document Foundation, is to be established as a German Stiftung (foundation) in Berlin. The founder of the Stiftung, which will oversee the development of LibreOffice, will be the current interim legal entity, the non-profit association Freies Office Deutschland e.V., formerly OpenOffice.org Deutschland e.V.

Florian Effenberger, who will be the CEO of the new foundation, was quoted in a press release as saying that, "For the first time in 12 years, the development of the free office suite finally takes place within an entity that not only perfectly fits the values and ideals of the worldwide community, but also has this very same community driving it."

The establishment of a new foundation has been planned since LibreOffice was forked from OpenOffice.org nearly a year and a half ago. The process had been complicated by the need to find a German state willing to support the type of legal entity required. In the meantime, a fund raising campaign was launched that managed to attract more than €50,000 in just eight days.

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