Can an LLC have Members with a Non-ownership Economic Interest?
Today I answered a LinkedIn question about forming an LLC where some members have no ownership of the LLC but receive a share of cash resulting from the business’s profits (their economic interest). The question and answer are reproduced, in somewhat edited form, below. (Since I first wrote this post, LinkedIn has shut down its Q&A feature, so you no longer can find this question there.)
Q: Can you have a Manager Managed LLC where Members have zero ownership interest but receive a share of economic interest? So, the Operating agreement would look like this: 2 Manager Members w/ 50/50% ownership share and 25/25% economic share; 2 Additional Members w/ 0% ownership share and 25/25% economic share. (more…)
SaaS Use of Open-source Software is not Distribution (Who GNU?)
I recently answered a LinkedIn question about whether providing Software as a Service (SaaS) is considered a “distribution” under the open-source GNU General Public License. The question and answer (no longer available on LinkedIn) are reproduced, in slightly edited form, below.
Q. Is hosting a software as a SaaS offering considered as “distribution” under GPL / LGPL open source licenses?
A. I believe that SaaS hosting is not intended to be considered distribution.