[volunteers] Unincorporated associations owning property

[Rick Moen]

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote:

> Computerists frequently claim that unincorporated associations cannot
> own anything.  [...]  In fact, unincorporated associations _do_ own
> property:  Courts construes their property as owned by sets of
> individuals concerned, usually as a joint tenancy.

I've just done some more legal research to correct my understanding of
this matter, after my wife Deirdre reminded me that the World Science
Fiction Society, the very large unincorporated organisation that
supervises the annual World Science Fiction Conventions held since 1939, 
_does_ own quite a bit of valuable property.

  (Quoting http://www.wsfs.org/ :)

  Purposes:

  The purposes of the WSFS, according to its rules, are as follows: to
  choose the recipients of the annual Hugo Awards (Science Fiction
  Achievement Awards), to choose the locations and Committees for the
  annual World Science Fiction Conventions (the Worldcons), to attend
  those Worldcons, and to choose the locations and Committees for the
  occasional North American Science Fiction Conventions (the NASFiCs). (A
  NASFiC is held in North America in any year where the Worldcon is
  outside of North America.)

  [...]

  Rules:

  WSFS is an unincorporated non-profit organization governed by a
  Constitution and Standing Rules as documented at
  <http://wsfs.org/bm/rules.html>.

  [...]

  "World Science Fiction Society", "WSFS", "World Science Fiction
  Convention", "Worldcon", "NASFiC" and "Hugo Award" are service marks of
  the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.
  You can contact the WSFS Mark Protection Committee at <mpc at wsfs.org>.

  World Science Fiction Society, Post Office Box 426159, Kendall Square
  Station, Cambridge, MA 02142 USA. <webmaster at wsfs.org>. 

A list of WSFS's six currently registered Federal trademarks follows, 
findable using US Patent and Trademark Office's TESS search engine at
http://www.uspto.gov/  .  (Trademarks / service marks / certification
marks can be registered with USPTO for a $330 application fee covering
10-year coverage periods.  Absent registration, what you have is a
common-law trademark.)

S/N       Reg.#    Word Mark                        Check Status  Live/Dead
73572852  1436766  NASFIC                           TARR          LIVE
73388560  1286562  WSFS                             TARR          LIVE
73388559  1287322  THE HUGO AWARD                   TARR          LIVE
73388557  1283681  WORLD SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION TARR          LIVE
73388556  1284719  WORLD SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY    TARR          LIVE
73388555  1283680  WORLDCON                         TARR          LIVE

Detail on the Hugo Award trademark (selected fields only, for brevity):

Word Mark:  THE HUGO AWARD
Goods and Services:  IC 041. US 107. G & S: the Designation and
  Recognition of Achievement by Persons in the Field of Science Fiction
  and Fantasy Through the Presentation of Awards. FIRST USE: 19530000.
  FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19530000
Owner:  (REGISTRANT) World Science Fiction Society unincorporated
  association UNITED STATES c/o Mark Olson 10 Shawmut Terrace Framingham
  MASSACHUSETTS 01702
Type of Mark:  SERVICE MARK


Next time you hear that a novel has just won the Hugo Award, be aware
that it's tecnically "The Hugo Award(R)" -- officially and unambiguously
property of an unincorporated association.  ;->

So, the assertion that unincorporated groups cannot own property --
repeated every few years in these parts -- turns out to be simply
untrue, period.  (That claim is probably based on a misunderstanding of
the _genuine_ fact that an unincorporated group is not regarded as a
"person" within law, in the sense that it cannot _itself_ be named as
plaintiff or defendant in any civil lawsuit, nor be subjected to a
criminal trial.)