Royalty Auditing

AGAINST VIOLATIONS OF LICENSE AGREEMENTS

Having a contract does not protect you from fraud and misconduct of various kinds deriving from intentional breaches of contractual clauses by the licensee. We at Group Top Secret can ascertain any type of violation.

AGAINST SCAMS ABOUT SALES REVENUES

Our accounting investigations and economic, financial and administrative inspections can prove whether the licensee has paid you the due royalties or not.

AGAINST FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH QUALITY STANDARDS

If the license agreement signed between the parties provides for compliance with certain quality standards in the productions obtained under license, we can immediately take action to verify whether these standards have been respected or not.

Demonstrating the violation of one of the terms of the assignment agreement is not enough, because the evidence collected by a detective agency is essential for

• Overcoming difficulties in correctly estimating compensation
• Obtain adequate compensation
• Avoid serious economic damage to your business

The authority that must establish compensation for damages must always try to estimate the amount with rigorous accuracy. But without certain and irrefutable evidence, the real risk is that the amount of any compensation is lower (even by much) than what you would be entitled to.

Intellectual Property development strategies often take the form of license agreements through which the owner of an intangible asset, i.e. trademarks, patents, intellectual property rights or know-how, grants to a third party, the licensee, the right to exploit it within the limits set by the contract, in exchange for an economic consideration: this sum of money is called a royalty.

It is clear that royalty revenues from industrial property licensing are a significant source of income.

However, the license agreement may give rise to fraud and misconduct of various kinds deriving from intentional breach of contractual clauses by the licensee.

These failures are often attributable to the licensee’s desire not to recognize, in full, the amount due to the owner of the intellectual property.

It follows that the spread of licensing contracts has given rise to the increasing use of royalty auditing in order to verify compliance with the contractual conditions.