Licensing Royalty Rates, 2023 Edition

The essential reference for both beginning and more experienced licensing professionals.

Knowing the "going" royalty rate for virtually any product is as simple as reaching for the newly published Licensing Royalty Rates, 2023 Edition.

Setting a royalty rate too high can scare away potential licensees, while accepting a lower rate can cost licensors hundreds of thousands of dollars. Licensing Royalty Rates, 2023 Edition provides all the information you need to calculate the right rate every time.

The data in Licensing Royalty Rates is compiled using information from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. After careful review by a blue-ribbon panel of expert licensing consultants uniquely qualified to know what the appropriate rate range is for specific properties in each licensing category, the information is organized into four time-saving sections that give researchers fast access to comprehensive statistical and analytical data:

• Royalty rate listing alphabetically by licensed product —provides a detailed alphabetical listing of products and their suggested rate range across all product categories.
• Royalty rate listing by international trademark class—lets you quickly identify subtle royalty rate differences between similar products within specific international trademark classes.
• Checklist of licensed products and services—offers a quick-reference to products with a high potential for licensing.
• Comprehensive list of licensed products and services—presents a detailed list of all surveyed products and services within a trademark class for preparing intent-to-use trademark applications.

Written in conjunction with a field of advisors, this study represents the twenty-first in an annual series of royalty rate studies in the merchandising and trademark licensing area. While these changes are generally subtle, should you find yourself in the negotiation of a multi-year license agreement for a hot property, a half-point difference in royalty rates over a five-year period can mean millions of dollars in additional (or decreased) royalty income. Seemingly minor changes can have substantial consequences.

In addition to the table of royalty rates that we have provided in years past, the 2023 Edition has important features that should be of interest to our readers:

• The survey shows that FOB royalty rates are typically between 2-3 percentage points higher than the comparable wholesale rate. Thus, if the wholesale royalty rate charged for a particular property for a particular product was 12%, the FOB rate for that item would be tween 14% and 15%.
• Updated royalty rate surveys with product categories listed alphabetically and by trademark class.
• Survey charts have been completely revamped to include a range of typical royalty rates for each product category, as well as the industry average royalty rate for each particular product.
• An updated listing of the top franchises from 2022.
• Updated content detailing the state of the licensing industry, with updated survey and statistical information on worldwide licensing revenues by property type and product category, as well as the latest information on the top properties and agents in the industry.
• Updated listing of licensing agents and consultants actively working in the industry.
• New Appendix containing the latest reported court decisions with respect to royalty rates in all facets of the industry, including consumer products, computer technology, telecommunications, plant patents, biotechnology, video games, music, and reasonable royalty rates.