Private Clubs

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Cooperatives may have collaborative ownership, but they are not usually open source organizations. As such, their business practices may be comparable to corporations.

  • Corporations - Typically proprietary development may be described simply as a Private Clubs with Private Ownership, an Old Boys' Network. Designs are not open source. Great example is Apple
  • Cooperatives - May be described as Private Clubs with Collaborative Ownership. New members may be welcome, but outsiders do not get access to intellectual property. Great example here is Mondragon and organizations with the Peer Production License
  • Nonprofits - These are supposedly Public Clubs, not Private Clubs. In practice, most nonprofits - such as in third world aid - use proprietary know-how, and as such their benefit to the public interest may be abridged.
  • Social Business - Typically for the benefit of large numbers of people, but the intellectual property is typically proprietary.
  • Distributive Enterprise (DE) - This is a true outlier in the in the corporate landscape of Private Clubs. The DE is designed for public interest, with open source know-how that is intended for widespread dissemination.