The person who signs on behalf of the district must sign their legal first and last name for the agreement to be considered legally valid, However, it will be maintained by World Services confidentially in the confidential legal folder on the MA drive, so that only the legal department (lawyers on the board, and/or 1-2 Board members such as the President and P&P Trustee) can see the names.
The agreements will not be filed or shared anywhere publicly, and will only be used in connection with litigation challenging whether MA World Services adequately enforces and/or places reasonable limits on the use of its trademarks (which is almost certainly to not happen!) If a third-party using MA’s trademarks in detrimental ways were to argue that MA does not have licensing agreements, World Services may need to submit the signed agreements to the Court or U.S. PTO to demonstrate that MA World Services does take adequate steps to enforce and protect its trademarks. These agreements may need to be shown to the U.S. PTO to “prove” World Services enforces their IP rights, or to auditors, but those limited purposes for sharing the agreements will also be done confidentiality.
In the highly unlikely event that the licensing agreements need to be used in court in litigation, MA World Services will take all steps to protect the anonymity of the signer. Wherever possible, MA World Services will redact the last names (and if possible, full names) of the Trusted Servants who sign the agreements, and/or file the agreements with the Court “under seal” (meaning only the judge can see the names) so they are not made publicly available. The Court will almost certainly agree to any steps taken to protect anonymity. World Services also is requesting the contact information for anyone who signs an agreements so they can contact the Trusted Servants who signed licensing agreements to notify them of any litigation resulting in the need to submit the agreements, and keep them apprised of the steps being taken to protect their anonymity.
However, if someone – like a District Chairperson – is not comfortable signing or unable to sign their full legal name for any reason, another Trusted Servant serving on the DSC, RSC or in any capacity for the group/meeting can sign on behalf of the district, region, or meeting/group. Any Trusted Servant can sign the agreement, and it does not need to be signed by a certain role, e.g. District Chairperson or Internet Chair or Webmaster. It is within the autonomy of the district, region or group to decide who will sign the agreements.