Journal of Intellectual Property (J Intellect Property; JIP)

KCI Indexed
OPEN ACCESS, PEER REVIEWED

pISSN 1975-5945
eISSN 2733-8487
Research Article

A Royalty Rate Determination Model for the Technology Transfer of Generative AI Models

CEO, The LAB-i, Republic of Korea

Correspondence to Hyun-Woo Park (valuer.park@gmail.com)

Volume 21, Number 3, Pages 299-322, September 2026.
Journal of Intellectual Property 2026;21(3):299-322. https://doi.org/10.34122/jip.2026.21.3.299
Received on July 20, 2026, Revised on September 01, 2026, Accepted on September 04, 2026, Published on September 30, 2026.
Copyright © 2026 Korea Institute of Intellectual Property.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the article is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Abstract

This study proposes a valuation framework and determination model to estimate the appropriate royalty rate for the technology transfer of generative AI models. As complex technological assets, generative AI models comprise model architecture, trained weights, training and fine-tuning data, prompt assets, retrieval-augmented generation structures, safety modules, operational know-how, retraining rights, output usage rights, and liability arrangements. Therefore, simply applying conventional royalty rates used for patented technologies or general software does not adequately reflect the economic value and risks associated with generative AI models. To address this limitation, this study proposes a royalty rate determination procedure that involves decomposing technological assets, defining the scope of rights, estimating base value, allocating technology contribution, adjusting for risk, incorporating real option value, and deriving a negotiable royalty range. In particular, this study identifies the economic useful life of training data, data contribution, reusability, rights and contractual conditions, copyright and privacy risks, and model obsolescence as key adjustment factors. The results suggest that the appropriate royalty rate for generative AI models should be determined not as a single fixed rate, but as a risk-adjusted negotiation range reflecting data rights, model performance, technological life, substitutability, exclusivity, liability risk, update rights, and expansion potential.
Keywords

generative AI, technology transfer, royalty rate, intellectual property (IP) valuation, training data, risk adjustment, real options, technology contribution rate

Notes

Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Funding

The author received manuscript fees for this article from Korea Institute of Intellectual Property.

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