Simple English definitions for legal terms
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Established royalty means a set price that someone has agreed to pay for using something that belongs to someone else. This is usually used for things like books or inventions that have a copyright or patent. If there is no set price, a court will decide what a fair price would be. This fair price is called a reasonable royalty, which is what someone would be willing to pay while still making a profit. This is important in cases where someone has used something without permission, and they have to pay for it.
Established royalty refers to a payment made to an author or inventor for each copy of their work or article sold under a copyright or patent. It is a royalty that is set at an agreed-on price.
For example, if an author writes a book and agrees to receive $1 for every copy sold, that is an established royalty. In the absence of an established royalty, a court will determine a remedy for infringement based on what a reasonable royalty would have been.
A reasonable royalty is a royalty that a licensee would be willing to pay the holder of the thing's intellectual-property rights while still making a reasonable profit from its use. The reasonable-royalty standard often serves as the measure of damages in a claim of patent, copyright, or trademark infringement, or for misappropriation of trade secrets.
For instance, if a company uses a patented technology without permission, the patent holder can sue for damages. The court will then determine what a reasonable royalty would have been for the use of that technology and award damages accordingly.
In summary, established royalty is a set payment for the use of intellectual property, while reasonable royalty is a payment that would be considered fair and reasonable in the absence of an established royalty.