Royalties

Royalty (or more often in the plural " royalties" used; correctly in German according to Duden - dictionary of foreign words but " Royaltys " ) is the English - but used in German-speaking - technical term for all fee income of the ( spiritual ) owner from the exploitation / utilization his work or property in the context of concessions, licenses, patents, trademarks or copyrights. The term derives from the medieval England when the English crown ( just the " Royalty " ) had to be paid fees for the use of their (land ) property in the form of lease by the tenant. The more common term used in the German royalties is more exact because it results- for example, refers to revenue-based payments while Royalty thinks other types of payments ( one-time payments, recurring fixed amounts, such as annual fees, etc.).

The example of the copyright of music, this will be outlined representative of the other types of intellectual property. The composer has the copyright on his work in a space provided development company sign ( GEMA in Germany for example ), and concludes with this a Deed from. GEMA registered the work and demands on legal and statutory basis of the future users of the work ( record companies, radio and television, cinema, organizers of public performances, etc.) a fee that is paid to the composer based on a complex manifold key on the relevant music publisher. These user fees are called royalties (or less accurate than Royaltys ). If they are a permanent source of income from the perspective of the composer, they are referred to as "running royalties". The fees payable by producers of phonograms fees are called " mechanical rights " or " Mechanicals " (see the article on the GEMA). In particular, in the masses of popular pop music, the fees, such as million -sellers, reach a substantial size.

The way how Royaltys are levied is often governed by individual contracts. Only in the case of artistic works there by the collecting societies and publishers a certain uniformity.