Welcome to the RoyaltySource® IP Data Guide

At RoyaltySource®, we maintain a database of intangible property licenses that report a royalty rate. These benchmarks are used in valuation, license negotiations, and transfer pricing assignments. Here in the RoyaltySource IP Data Guide, we will offer some insight, frequently asked questions, and proposed solutions offered over the past 20 years from RoyaltySource.
Why we don't focus on SIC codes but instead on the description of the license IP?
We do not search by SIC codes since many times the company SIC Code is not a good indication of a description of technology or trademark/brand.  Many companies have multiple business lines and resulting SIC Codes.  Many times only the primary SIC Code is reported.  Therefore, we feel that simply focusing on an SIC Code could result in missing other possible comparable licenses.  Further, many times one of the parties to the license is a private company and a resulting SIC Code is not publicly available.  In these cases, we do not research the company business and assign an SIC Code.

We simply read the description of the licensed property for contextual understanding with the individual's target in mind.   For example, if the target is agricultural machinery (i.e. harvesters) technology licenses, we would create the draft search by searching the technology portion of the database in the area of agriculture.  We would not search by SIC Code or just by the keyword "harvester."   In other words, we simply read the description of the licensed property for contextual understanding with the “harvester” target in mind.   We would read the licensed property descriptions looking for words such as harvesters, agricultural machinery/equipment, farm machinery/equipment, tractors, mowers, balers, excavators, etc.