[cstross]

if true demonstrates a deep level of organization ineptness

It's true, but your mistake is in assuming an actual organization exists.

WSFS is just a club, the membership of which consists of the paying members of the current worldcon. The WSFS constitution is a set of rules for the WSFS business meeting which handles stuff like the bidding process for the next-but-one worldcon, and running running the Hugo awards. But there's no continuity of WSFS membership or governance from one worldcon to another except insofar as some people may be members of two or more consecutive worldcons.

It worked for 80 consecutive worldcons, then broke when it ran up against folks who didn't abide by the norms of behaviour that the rules presuppose.

[ncallaway]

Right, which I understand could be a huge legal problem, because it means they cannot effectively police their trademark. Policing a trademark is often a requirement of holding a trademark, so there's some concern that this legal "structure" of the WSFS and the way that it has chosen to license its trademarks to subsequent worldcon's could put the trademark itself at risk.

Basically, "the WSFS rules presume norms of behavior" may not be compatible with "holding a trademark". If that's the case, it could mean other non-worldcon entities could put on their own "Hugo Awards".