Managing intellectual property royalties involves tracking complex payment streams across multiple jurisdictions, rights holders, and usage scenarios. In the music industry alone, a single song can generate over 900,000 micro-transactions per month across streaming platforms, while patent portfolios often require managing hundreds of renewal payments annually across dozens of countries.

The fundamental challenge lies in creating systems that can accurately track, calculate, and distribute royalty payments while maintaining transparency and reducing administrative overhead.

This page brings together solutions from recent research—including blockchain-based payment automation, AI-driven royalty auditing systems, smart contract frameworks for license management, and automated evaluation algorithms for fair pricing. These and other approaches focus on streamlining royalty administration while ensuring accurate compensation for rights holders.

1. System for NFT Transaction Facilitation with Embedded Royalty Enforcement and Compatibility Verification

ARTEMA LABS INC, 2025

Facilitating transactions involving non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that enables royalty payments for content created using NFTs. The system embeds an anchor into applications that verifies NFT compatibility. When an NFT is used to transfer content, the system detects it, determines if royalties are due, and enforces them. The system also provides a log of NFT transactions to an authority that assesses their validity. This allows royalties to be paid automatically when NFTs are transferred or used.

2. Royalty Distribution Management System with Pooled Allocation for Unconfirmed Rights

OBIC CO LTD, 2024

Royalty distribution management system for content rights licensing that allows efficient allocation of unconfirmed rights. The system uses pooling to manage distribution of royalties when contracts are not finalized. It acquires allocation reports linking right holders and amounts based on pooled targets and distribution settings. When contracts are finalized, it calculates distributed amounts and acquires reports. This allows extracting unallocated reports and recalculating for finalized contracts. The system also provides a search for unallocated reports and a screen to manually calculate distributions.

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3. System for Fractional Ownership and Trading of Intellectual Property Rights Using NFT-Encoded Shares

JEE SEON, KIM KYONG MIN, KWON HYUCK SUN, 2023

Intellectual property transaction system that allows fractional ownership and trading of intellectual property rights using NFTs. The system encrypts and divides intellectual property rights into multiple shares that can be bought, sold, and traded like stocks. This allows investors to own fractions of patents, trademarks, etc. for a lower cost. It also enables contributors to monetize their ideas directly by selling shares instead of waiting for royalties. The system uses NFTs to track and manage the shares, and blockchain to secure and transfer ownership.

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4. System for Patent Annuity Management with Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts for Automated Payment Execution and Tracking

ERICH LAWSON SPANGENBERG, DANIEL LAWRENCE BORK, PASCAL ASSELOT, 2023

System for managing patent annuity payments and renewals using blockchain and smart contracts to automate and track patent renewals. The system provides automated patent verification, payment planning, cost optimization, funding options, and payment monitoring. It uses a blockchain network to securely store patent data, execute payments, and provide transparency. The system aims to prevent missed annuity payments and abandonment by providing a comprehensive platform to manage and fund global patent renewals.

5. Blockchain-Based System for Tokenizing Intellectual Property Rights into Non-Fungible Tokens

Erich Lawson Spangenberg, BRADLEY NOLAN ROTTER, BRIAN JOSHUA BERMAN, 2023

Using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on blockchains like Ethereum to trade and transfer intellectual property (IP) rights like patents and copyrights. The system involves tokenizing IP assets into NFTs that represent ownership, licenses, and encumbrances. This enables free and transparent trading of IP rights internationally, similar to stock trading, by using blockchain to provide clear title, marketability, and valuation. The NFTs can also have attribute tokens representing licensing rights, royalties, etc. The blockchain provides a decentralized IP registry with secure, transparent, and real-time IP ownership records.

6. Content Rights and Payments Management System Utilizing Unique Identifiers and Hierarchical Copyright Structure

ANIFIE, INC., 2023

Method for managing content rights and payments when creating and selling media derivatives. The method involves using unique identifiers to track relationships between primary and derivative content. A hierarchical copyright system is established for the primary and derivative works. When editing primary content to create derivatives, payments are made to the primary content authors. When selling derivatives, payments are made to both primary and derivative content authors.

7. Method for Calculating Patent License Royalties Using Spatial Price Equilibrium and Revised Projection Algorithm

SOUTHEAST UNIV, SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY, 2023

Estimating patent open license royalties based on value increments to efficiently compute public license royalties for patented technologies. The method calculates the market value of a patent by determining the change in sales or profit of an enterprise before and after implementing the patented technology. This value is then used as a basis for negotiating the patent open license fee. The method involves using a spatial price equilibrium model to describe the market equilibrium states before and after the patent licensing, and solving it using a revised projection algorithm. The value increment between the two equilibrium states represents the patent's value.

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8. System for Generating Investment Opportunities in Digital Asset Royalty Streams Based on User Entertainment Preferences

Harry L. Crisp, III, 2023

System for enabling users to invest in royalty streams associated with digital assets like entertainment content based on their existing entertainment preferences. The system accesses user's entertainment apps and data to identify preferred creators and assets. It then generates investment opportunities in those assets' royalty streams. This customized portfolio is displayed to the user who can make investments. The system handles the transactions and updates the user's investment portfolio. It aims to help users find and invest in royalty streams of assets they already enjoy, leveraging their existing entertainment choices.

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9. System for Managing Licensing and Royalty Distribution of Digital Music Services

MUSIC REPORTS, INC., 2023

Administering licenses for copyrighted music in digital music services to ensure compliance with copyright law and compensate rights holders. The system receives identifying information for sound recordings from a client music service. It matches the sound recording to associated musical compositions and evaluates licensing status. It secures licenses for any unlicensed compositions. It also tracks music usage and revenue for reporting and royalty calculations. The system then reports license status back to the client and requests royalty payments. Finally, it provides royalty statements and compensates the composition rights holders.

10. Transaction System with Smart Contract Wrapper for IP Licensing and Royalty Apportionment on Distributed Ledger

Strong Force TX Portfolio 2018, LLC, 2022

Transaction-enabling system that improves the machines that enable markets, including for increased efficiency, speed, reliability, and the like for participants in such markets. The system includes a smart contract wrapper, accessing a distributed ledger comprising a plurality of intellectual property (IP) licensing terms corresponding to a plurality of IP assets, interpreting an IP description value and an IP addition request; in response to the IP addition request and the IP description value, to add the apportionment of royalties corresponding to the IP description value; and committing an entity providing the access request value to at least one of the plurality of embedded contract terms.

11. Automated Micropayment System for Real-Time Royalty Transactions in Internet Music Broadcasts

MADDOCK JEREMY, 2022

Automated micropayment marketplace to facilitate authorized use of copyright-protected music during internet broadcasts. It involves a software application that allows broadcasters to pay small digital royalties in real-time when playing copyrighted music. The marketplace calculates royalty rates based on factors like viewership, context, and song duration. Broadcasters agree to refrain from legal action and abide by internal arbitration. This allows copyright owners to collect revenue for internet usage while broadcasters can legally play music without fear of infringement.

12. Automated Royalty Management System with Unique Identification Generation and Centralized Processing

BARD ANNETTE, GOURLEY REGAN, 2022

Automated system for managing and paying royalties for creative works like music, inventions, and designs. The system allows stakeholders to input details of a creative work and agreed royalty divisions for themselves and others. A unique identification indicium based on the work details is generated. This indicium is added to the work or copies along with a universal product code. This allows automated royalty calculation and payment when the work is used or sold. The central server application handles this process.

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13. Automated Micro-Transaction System for Real-Time Patent Royalty Processing with Smart Contract Integration

BRADLEY NOLAN ROTTER, BRIAN JOSHUA BERMAN, 2022

Real-time, automated processing of patent royalty payments in micro-transactions instead of annual or quarterly installments. It allows for immediate, partial payments at any time using methods like credit cards or commodity equivalents. The system also uses smart contracts to automatically execute sales, transfers funds, and revert payments on default. This provides real-time funding and eliminates delays, while also allowing for other types of transactions beyond patents. It prevents fraud by motivating parties to continue adding value by tying their rewards to performance.

14. Platform for Generating Music Publishing Agreements Using Metadata from Digital Audio Workstations

Aurign, Inc., 2021

Automated creation of music publishing agreements using metadata generated from digital audio workstations (DAWs) to accurately track authorship and royalties. The system involves a platform that integrates with DAWs to capture metadata as users collaborate and make changes to a song. This metadata is then used to generate legal documents like publishing agreements that accurately reflect each user's contribution and ownership share. The system also allows synchronized DAW usage across devices and calculates royalties based on playbacks.

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15. Automated Copyright Licensing System with Tabular Association for Royalty Distribution and Reporting

OBIC CO LTD, 2021

Automated rights processing system for copyright licensing that enables efficient and scalable royalty distribution and reporting for copyright licenses. The system uses a table to associate original contract numbers, license rights, royalties classifications, right holders, and distribution rates. It distributes the royalty deposits to each right holder at their respective rates and collectively outputs a report of the distribution results for each holder. The reports can be uploaded to a file transfer service for distribution. This allows automated, batch processing and reporting of royalties instead of manually generating and sending individual reports for each license.

16. Electronic Certificate Trading System for Proportional Royalty Rights in Intangible Assets

Yang Hongseon, 2021

Online system for sharing the right to receive royalties from intangible assets like patents, trademarks, and copyrights. The system allows splitting and trading the right to receive future royalties without transferring ownership of the underlying asset. It involves issuing electronic certificates representing shares of future royalties that can be purchased and sold. The certificates are traded in proportion to the shares held by participants, who collect royalties based on their share. The system provides a redistribution mechanism that adjusts account balances automatically.

17. Automated Evaluation System for Determining Fair Royalty Charges Using Algorithmic Analysis

JONAS BLOCK, 2021

Automated evaluation system that can charge a fair and reasonable royalty to a license seeker. The system includes an automated evaluation algorithm that allows the license seeker to check whether an exploitative offer is submitted to him and/or whether he is discriminated against by the offer.

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18. Autonomous Royalty Management System Using Smart Device Network for Public Music Performance Detection

Levaughn Denton, 2020

Monetizing public music performances by autonomously collecting and managing royalties using a network of smart devices. The method involves having devices like smartphones, wearables, and IoT devices in venues sense and isolate musical performances. The sensed data is transmitted to a central server which identifies the songs, determines rights ownership, calculates royalties, and pays out to the rightsholders. The system eliminates the need for manual reporting and spot-checking.

19. AI-Driven Platform for Automated Normalization and Categorization of Music Royalty Data

Rylti, LLC, 2020

Using AI and machine learning to automate and streamline music royalty audits, certification, and valuation in the music industry. The platform normalizes and regularizes data received in inconsistent formats to identify normalized royalty parameters through entity resolution. It provides a global industry data model to efficiently and completely identify all parties owed royalties. The platform also certifies machine-readable royalty data, processes outlier data from audits to discover insights, and uses AI to categorize royalty-related data into normalized parameters.

20. Platform for Automated Analysis of Music Royalty Data Using Machine Learning and Entity Resolution Techniques

Rylti, LLC, 2020

Using AI and machine learning to analyze music royalty data in a standardized and automated way, to improve accuracy, efficiency and transparency in royalty calculations, audits and valuations. The platform normalizes inconsistent data formats using entity resolution, extracts normalized royalty parameters, and provides a global industry data model for identifying all royalty owed parties. It also certifies machine-readable royalty data, processes outlier data for insights, and automates audit tests.

21. Royalty Rate Calculation System Utilizing Factor-Based Technology Contribution Coefficient

TECHNOVATIONPARTNERS, 2020

A system for calculating an appropriate royalty rate for valuation of technology or business items that reduces valuation costs and shortens time compared to conventional methods. The system uses a formula to calculate the royalty rate based on factors like benefit, differentiation, reliability, technical maturity, and intellectual property protection. These factors are scored and weighted to determine a technology contribution adjustment coefficient. The expected operating margin is also calculated. By quantifying the factors, it provides a logical and consistent way to determine the royalty rate instead of subjective judgement.

22. Automated Music Royalty Processing System with AI-Driven Data Normalization and Entity Resolution

Rylti, LLC, 2020

Automated system for auditing, verifying, and settling royalty and license fees in the music industry using AI and machine learning to reduce costs and improve accuracy. The system receives inconsistent royalty data from multiple sources in different formats, normalizes it through entity resolution and machine learning to identify consistent royalty parameters, and uses a global industry model to calculate and present royalty fees.

23. Distributed Ledger System with Smart Contract Wrapper for Dynamic IP Asset Management and Royalty Apportionment

Strong Force TX Portfolio 2018, LLC, 2020

Transaction-enabling system for distributed ledgers that enables flexible, intelligent management of intellectual property (IP) assets and royalty sharing. The system has a smart contract wrapper that interprets IP licensing terms and adds/removes IP assets from an aggregate stack. It also provides provable access control, IP valuation, and apportions royalties based on IP contribution.

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24. Method for Determining Patent License Value Using Drug, Provider, and Consumer Data with Statistical and Coefficient Calculations

CHUNGBUK NATIONAL UNIVERSITY INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION, NAT UNIV CHUNGBUK IND ACAD COOP FOUND, 2020

Calculating the value of a patent license for a drug to help price licensing agreements. The method involves receiving drug details, provider characteristics, and consumer characteristics. It calculates statistical constants for the drugs using disease and type info. It calculates coefficients for provider and consumer using their specifics. It combines these values to calculate a royalty rate. This rate is then used to calculate the technical value of the patent license.

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25. Hierarchical Brand and License Management System with Nested Structure for Automated Data Tracking

Walmart Apollo, LLC, 2019

A hierarchical brand and license management system to improve tracking of products, brands, licenses, and factories for more reliable automated royalty payment management. The system uses a nested structure with fields indicating brand/license info and whether factory tracking is required. It provides a user interface to manage brands, identifies duplicate entries, and generates corrective actions. This helps mitigate risks of missing payments or duplicate payments due to brand variation inconsistencies. The system also tracks factories for compliance with requirements like ethical sourcing and imports.

26. Digital Collaboration Platform with Integrated IP Management and Automated Revenue Distribution

BLACK BOX DIGITAL GUILD INC., 2019

Digital content collaboration platform that allows creators to work together, share IP ownership, and future revenue. The platform brings content creators together to collaborate on projects, allowing them to leverage each other's skills and assets. The collaboration platform facilitates projects, manages IP rights, tracks revenue, and automates payments to creators. It also provides tools like talent matching, analytics, and project workspaces.

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27. Blockchain-Based Decentralized System for Automated Intellectual Property Licensing Transactions

Wesley W. Whitmyer, JR., 2019

A decentralized system for licensing intellectual property (IP) using blockchain to facilitate transparent, efficient, and low-cost IP licensing without the need for lawyers or courts. The system allows IP owners to verify and list their IP on a blockchain-based platform. Licensors can view the listed IP along with the owners' payment addresses. When a licensor wants to license an IP, they initiate a payment to the owner's address using the platform. The blockchain records the license transaction. This provides a decentralized, automated, and transparent IP licensing marketplace that eliminates intermediaries and reduces costs compared to traditional IP licensing.

28. Decentralized Blockchain-Based Intellectual Property Licensing System with Automated Transaction Mechanism

Wesley W. Whitmyer, JR., 2019

A decentralized system for licensing intellectual property using blockchain to facilitate efficient, low-cost IP licensing without centralized control. The system allows IP owners to verify and register their IP on a blockchain, providing a public key for payments. IP seekers can view the IP and owner keys on a display. When they license an IP, the system automatically makes payments to the owner's key using blockchain transactions. This creates an open, decentralized IP marketplace where IP can be licensed anonymously and recorded publicly on the blockchain.

29. Web Portal for Customizable Display of Rights Management Data with Role-Based Access and Dynamic Data Translation

KTech Services Limited, 2019

A web portal for customizable user-centric display of royalty administration and rights management (RARM) data. The portal allows users to view their royalty earnings and account status based on their rights and access levels. The system retrieves RARM data from third-party sources, identifies key parameters, translates formats, allocates royalties, analyzes earnings, generates views, and displays the data tailored to each user's role. It also shows supplemental subsets when metrics or tests are satisfied.

30. Centralized Server System for Technology Transfer Contract Management with Fee Billing and Recovery Mechanisms

Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, 2019

A system for managing technology transfer contracts to prevent and recover non-payment of technology fees. The system involves a central server that collects commercialization status of transferred technology, manages fee billing, unpaid royalties, royalty distribution, and royalty income. It provides a follow-up management platform for technology transfer agencies to access, monitor, and manage their licensees' commercialization. The server calculates and bills flat and current fees based on contract info, tracks unpaid royalties, calculates royalty distributions, and generates invoices. This allows proactive recovery of unpaid fees through escalating penalties.

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31. System for Parsing and Conforming Income Statements to Standardized Format for Asset Matching

OLE MEDIA MANAGEMENT (GP) INC., 2018

Management of intellectual property rights and royalty payments associated with intellectual property assets. The management includes receiving statements from income sources, parse the statements such that the data is conformed to a common format, and with the data in a common format, the asset listings in the statements can be matched to the assets in the database.

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32. Computing System for Intellectual Property Management with Dynamic Flow Network-Based Royalty Calculation

TRUIST BANK, 2018

Scalable computing system for managing intellectual property rights and royalty payments using dynamic flow networks. The system involves storing deals, assets, rates, and rights holders in a database. Statements from income sources are received and conformated into a common format. Assets are matched between statements and deals. Dynamic flow networks are generated for each asset, with constraints based on deals and rates. Royalties are calculated in parallel for multiple deals by traversing the networks. This allows scalable processing of royalties for large portfolios with many participants.

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33. System for Dynamic Licensing of Intellectual Property with Bidirectional Transaction Inputs

OPTiM Corporation, 2018

Transacting a license of intellectual property with high flexibility by receiving information from each of the exhibitor, the purchaser, and the seller like stock trading. The transaction involves receiving input of information on a license of intellectual property and a selling price for the license from an exhibitor's terminal; a purchase receiving unit that receives input of a purchase price for the input information on the license of intellectual property from a purchaser's terminal; and a sales receiving unit that receives input of a sales price for a license of intellectual property to be sold among the exhibited licenses of the intellectual property from a seller's terminal if the purchaser becomes a seller.

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34. System and Method for Securitizing Royalty Bonds via Intellectual Property Asset Transfer and Licensing

SEOUL CREDIT RATING INC, WIPS CO LTD, Seoul Credit Rating & Information Inc., 2018

A method and system for securitizing future royalty bonds using intellectual property (IP) assets. The system involves an IP holding company investing its IP in-kind to a separate special-purpose company (SPC) and licensing it back. This generates future royalty streams. These royalty claims are then securitized using bonds. The securitization enhances credit by having the IP holding company retain a stake in the SPC. If securities default, the IP holding company can buy out the SPC shares. This improves credit and provides a path for reinvestment.

35. Revenue Distribution System for Secondary Works with Automated Royalty Allocation and Original Work Registration

DOODLER CROP, 2017

A system for distributing revenue from secondary works like derivative works, remixes, adaptations, etc. The system enables copyright holders of original works to automatically receive a share of revenue from secondary works that use their original content. It involves original and secondary copyright holders registering their works and rates on a server, which calculates and distributes the revenue based on those rates. This allows original copyright holders to set a royalty rate for secondary use without needing consent. If multiple original works are used, the total royalty rates are adjusted to a predetermined value. This prevents overpayment and ensures fair sharing of revenue when multiple original works are involved. The system also prevents unauthorized use by embedding links to the original work registration in the original files.

36. System for Structuring Copyright License Revenue with Split Royalty Payments and Differential Tax Treatment

CREATIVE SHELTER BVBA, 2016

Managing revenue from copyright licenses in a way that allows authors to optimize their tax burden by splitting royalty payments into separate charges with different tax treatments. The method involves calculating a first copyright fee paid by the licensee to the intermediary and a second compensation paid to the author. The total is less than the license price. This allows the author to separate the copyright assignment fee from the service fee, which can have different tax rates. It also enables the intermediary to calculate withholding tax on the copyright fee. The method uses structured performance data, like author ID and license price, to calculate the split charges. The charges are then billed separately to the licensee and author.

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37. Method for Aggregating and Trading Intellectual Property Rights with Collective Valuation and Service Integration

MP&S Intellectual Property Associates LLC, 2015

Method for aggregating intellectual property rights from multiple owners, valuing them collectively, providing services to the owners, and trading the aggregated IP as a transaction. The method involves an IP aggregator acquiring rights from multiple owners, aggregating them, valuing the aggregated IP based on factors like exclusivity, competitive IP, potential, opportunities, etc., providing services to owners, and trading the aggregated IP as a transaction. This aims to maximize IP value, minimize valuation differences, and add value through services.

38. Media Production Rights and Royalty Sharing Management System with Contributor-Specific Allocation Database

Kalyan C. Kankanala, Sharada Kalamadi, Somashekar Ramakrishna, 2015

A system for managing rights and royalty sharing in media production involving multiple contributors. The system allows precise tracking and allocation of rights and revenue shares for each contributor based on their specific contributions. This provides a more detailed and accurate way to manage rights and royalty compared to broad laws in some jurisdictions. It involves a database to store and manage the rights and shares for each contributor.

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39. Intellectual Property Payment Tracking and Analysis System with Modular Data Collection and Statistical Processing

SINOIPRO IP MAN AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER CO LTD, SINOIPRO IP MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER CO LTD, TONGJI UNIVERSITY, 2015

An intellectual property service system to track and analyze intellectual property (IP) payments, revenues, and incentives. The system has modules to gather IP payment information, statistical analysis, feedback, and decision-making. It aims to provide insight into IP monetization and incentivization to improve IP management and operation.

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Various methods for streamlining revenue and royalties management are demonstrated in these patents. Certain operations, like patent renewals and royalty distribution, are being automated by means of blockchain technology. Others offer services for managing derivative content rights and auditing royalties tailored to particular sectors, such as music.

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