Very sad and disappointing news for our community!

As you know, in 2009, we have filed a lawsuit against our former Project Manager Herko Coomans for return of funds (around €15,000) that belong to XOOPS community and are currently held by "Stichting XOOPS"

We've been just informed by our lawyers in Netherlands that unfortunately the Dutch Court dismissed our claims. The verdict is clearly disappointing to us and we strongly believe that the District Court of Zwolle-Lelystad erred in its conclusion, and we are investigating a possible appeal.

For example, it is beyond our comprehension that the court could state that purchasing by Herko the domain www.xoops.com on behalf of XOOPS (as confirmed by others) for $18.95 and selling it back to Stichting XOOPS for €4,000, while being approved by the same man who sells it (which is Herko Coomans himself), doesn't consitute a "personal enrichment", or as we would call it in the US: Self-dealing . At a current exchange rate that's $5,330 profit for Herko, which he approved for himself out of XOOPS money!!! If you're puzzled by such a verdict, so are we!

[Edit]Especially since the Dutch Supreme Court is very clear in its decisions about "Conflict of Interest" ( see here )

This case will be definitely a warning to other Open Source projects to avoid the Dutch "Stichting" legal form, and about the Dutch court that obviously doesn't understand the Open Source project idea.

You can see the verdict in Dutch here

While we are investigating a possible appeal, the important thing for us as a community is to continue with our work and keep moving forward. Our XOOPS journey continues!

We appreciate all of your support in this legal matter and our most sincere "Thanks" goes to all the 225 people who signed the petition !

Below is the English translation done by Ghia. If there are any corrections needed, please let us know, and we'll improve it.