The Defold Foundation is what the name says, a foundation, not a corporation. A foundation can in many ways act as a corporation, pay corporate tax, have employees and so on.
BUT there is one fundamental difference and that is the objectives/purpose of the foundation. A corporation can change objectives from one day to another (Tesla: We are making cars! No, forget that, we are making robots!). A foundation on the other hand can only in very rare cases change the objectives set by the founder when it was founded.
For the Defold Foundation one of the objectives decided by the founder (King/Activision Blizzard) was this (translated from Swedish):
The Foundation’s purpose is to make the open-source software Defold available to the public. For this purpose, the Foundation shall keep the software’s source code available for use by third parties free of charge. The rights to results or products in which such source code is included shall always belong to the developing party and may be used by that party for private and commercial purposes. The Foundation shall not, however, permit third parties to commercialize the software’s source code, either as a game engine or as a game development tool, regardless of whether the software has been modified or processed. Nor does the Foundation have the right to transfer the rights to the open-source software Defold beyond what follows from the open licensing provided through the software, except in the event of the dissolution of the Foundation, in which case the rights shall revert to the Founder. In addition, the Foundation shall manage Defold by, among other things, updating, modifying, developing, and otherwise supporting Defold.
And this is the section about Swedish foundation law (source):
Chapter 6. Amendment, etc., of provisions in a foundation deed
Section 1
The board of directors or the administrator may not, without permission from the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (Kammarkollegiet), amend, repeal, or, in a specific case, set aside provisions in the foundation deed that concern:
- the purpose of the foundation,
- how the foundation’s assets are to be invested,
- whether the foundation is to have its own administration or be administered by an affiliated body,
- by whom a board member or the administrator is to be dismissed or appointed, or how the board is to be composed,
- the board’s quorum requirements or voting procedure,
- remuneration to the board members or the administrator,
- the foundation’s accounting records or annual financial statements,
- audit, or
- the right to bring an action for damages on behalf of the foundation or to apply for the dismissal of a board member or the administrator.
Such provisions may be amended, repealed, or, in a specific case, set aside only if, due to changed circumstances, they can no longer be complied with, or have become manifestly useless, or are manifestly contrary to the founder’s intentions.
Provisions referred to in the first paragraph, items 2–9, may additionally be amended, repealed, or, in a specific case, set aside if there are other special reasons. Provisions referred to in the first paragraph, item 1, may be amended, repealed, or, in a specific case, set aside only if there are exceptional reasons.
When amending provisions concerning the purpose of the foundation, what can be presumed to have been the founder’s intention shall be taken into account as far as possible.
So, as you can see we are bound to the objectives/purpose given to the foundation when it was founded in 2020. Defold will always remain a free game engine.
