Licence fees represent a kind of author’s bonus, as they are the author’s share of the income from the sales made when a final product is put on the market as a product (individually or as a series). In the design profession, licence fees are a rarer way of royalties payment, but with the growth of new start-ups, the percentage of royalties paid in this way is increasing. This means that payment in licence fees binds the royalty to the success that is achieved with the design solutions and consequently reduces the amount of the client’s initial cost in royalties. We recommend that this way of determining royalties does not include the part of the royalty that covers the designer’s costs.

Licence fees are set as a percentage of the production, retail or wholesale price of the published work, or for each copy of the work, in accordance with the contract.