In the field of

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

licensing, an advance against royalties is a payment made by the licensee to the licensor at the start of the period of

licensing A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

(usually immediately upon contract, or on delivery of the property being licensed) which is to be offset against future

royalty payments A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

. It is also known as a ''guaranteed minimum royalty payment''. For example, a book's author may sell a license to a publisher in return for 5% royalties on sales of the book and a $5,000 advance against those royalties. In this case, the author would immediately receive the $5,000, and royalty payments would be withheld until $5000 in royalties already paid had been earned — that is, until the publisher's takings from selling copies of the book reached $100,000; after that point the 5% royalty would be paid on any additional sales. BrandTrends
/ref> In some business areas (e.g. film production), it is common practice for the licensee to demand repayment of any advance that is not covered by royalties, whereas in others (e.g. book publication) this practice is unusual.

References

{{reflist Intellectual property law

See also

References