Deloitte
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Chapter 12 — Licensing

12.7 Sales- or Usage-Based Royalties

12.7 Sales- or Usage-Based Royalties

An entity may license its IP to a customer and in exchange receive consideration that may include fixed and variable amounts. Certain licensing arrangements require the customer to pay the entity a variable amount based on the underlying sales or usage of the IP (a “sales- or usage-based royalty”). As discussed in Chapter 6, the revenue standard requires an entity to estimate and constrain variable consideration in a contract with a customer. The FASB and IASB decided to create an exception to the general model for consideration in the form of a sales- or usage-based royalty related to licenses of IP.
Under the sales- or usage-based royalty exception to the revenue standard’s general rule requiring an entity to include variable consideration in the transaction price, if an entity is entitled to consideration in the form of a sales- or usage-based royalty, revenue is not recognized until (1) the underlying sales or usage has occurred and (2) the related performance obligation has been satisfied (or partially satisfied). That is, an entity is generally not required to estimate the amount of a sales- or usage-based royalty at contract inception; rather, revenue would be recognized as the subsequent sales or usage occurs (under the assumption that the associated performance obligation has been satisfied or partially satisfied).