Royalty is the price paid by the licensee. The sum of the price, the way it is paid, and other details are agreed by the parties involved. In intellectual property licensing terms (patent, trademark, copyright), the payment of royalty is seen as the compensation of a work that is the fruit of a person’s intellectual efforts and is therefore a crucial part of the terms. For example, patent royalty usually takes a certain percentage of the revenue or the profit of sales generated on the licensee’s side. To afford this expenditure, the licensee will have to exercise control on and make use of the rights obtained. If the licensee sublicenses the rights to a third party, this is done for the sake of marketing or profitability, not on the intention to promote such patented technology. Royalty also applies to copyrighted works such as printed works and computer programs. Free software means openness and sharing, and in terms of these concepts, licensing here means an expectation that the user can make the best use of the original work. It is not in the intention of such licenses that any charge of royalty would restrain the licensee’s willingness to further distribute the work. This is why almost every free software license would claim that it is royalty-free. Some licenses allows the licensee to charge a third party a fee higher than the cost of distributing the work, but this does not equal to the royalty charged by the copyright holder. The major difference, between a royalty and a fee higher than the cost of distribution, lies in that the royalty is not a one-time fee. It can be charged like tax, i.e. it can be charged according to the duration of use, subject of use, or any other conditions and can occur more than one time. The collection of royalty can be flexibly changed and is always effective on the licensee. The fee that is higher than the cost of distribution is one-time in nature. Although it has the same appearance for a charge, but it does have a completely different meaning.