What is the historical etymology of the term "royalty"?  The English
root is of course "royal," as in king and/or sovereign (although the
latter is a mislabeling).  It comes from the old French "rioalte," and
I know that somewhere between it meaning "royal right and privilege"
and (more commonly today) its use  in copyright and patent law, it
referred to the extraction of minerals from mines.  Perhaps the answer
has something to do with the 1710 Statue of Anne and its implications
for copyright law.

In anycase, I would like to now the historical trajectory of this term
royalty in more specificity than I already know, specifically the
transition and continued use of the term "royal" into something like a
fee for the use of a patent or copyright.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 21 Feb 2006 19:13 PST

The Oxford English Dictionary trsces the use of 'royalty' in English
back at least as far as Chaucer in the 1300's, used in the sense of
referring to kings, etc.

Around 1400, it begins to find use in referring to the *rights* of
sovereigns, and then later on, more general use regarding mineral
rights, as in this example from the 1500's:

"...Sir Humfry Gilbert graunted me my request to him made by letter,
for the royalties of discovery all to the North above the parallell of
the 50 degree of latitude..."


Then from mineral rights, came more expansive use that eventually
extended to intellectual rights, such as the royalties associated with
a patent, or copyright, or paid to an author for their work.


What sort of specifics are you after here, that would make for a
complete answer to your question?


pafalafa-ga

---

Clarification of Question by pelaprat-ga on 21 Feb 2006 20:09 PST

These are good questions; thanks for the opportunity to clarify what I
mean by a satisfactory answer.

1) First, I would like to know the context and history (no great
specificity here, just the rough story) behind the emergence of the
term "royalty" as a fee that is paid for some kind of use, whether
that be for minerals or something like that: is there a document, a
legal change, a historical event, etc?  I imagine this will be a fee
paid to the King/Queen -- but I would like to know the specific
context: a royalty for what, under what conditions, etc.

2) You say: "then from mineral rights, came more expansive use."  I
would like a rough trace of that expansion in historical terms.  I
doubt the meaning of the term went straight from mineral rights to
copyright/patent rights.

I hope this helps.

Hi, 
Not a google researcher but play around this topic. Closest place I
know to look is Prof. Granstrands book on intellectual property. Page
28 -
1324 - Edward II grants letters to skilled German miners (mineral rights)
... stuff happens under a bunch of terms, Venice creates the first
patent laws in 1474, then to your question
1557 - Queen Mary I established Stationer's co of London, holding a
"royal patent" on printing of books
1559- G. Anontio petitions Queen for proteciton of inventions under royal patents
1623 - England adopts patent ordinance "Statute of Monopolies" - this
shifted the authority from the soveriegn to the governing beaurecracy.
Good luck.

Paf and Pacalis are quite right.  Perhaps the most useful definition
of the word is this one:
"A payment made for the right to use the property of another person
for gain. This may be an intellectual property, such as a book or an
invention. It may also be paid to a landowner, who has granted mineral
rights to someone else, on sales of minerals that have been extracted
from his land. A royalty is regarded as a wasting asset as copyrights,
patents, and mines have limited lives."
www.promitheas.com/glossary.php

Originally, all rights to the land belonged to the king, others only
holding it as a feif.
"In the Feifdom, the King, who was ?Defender of the Faith?, was the
ultimate owner of the property and if his subject violated one of the
conditions of his ?legal title? ownership, the subject was ?divested?
of that ?conditional use? and evicted."  
http://www.financialprivacy.com/articles/morality_taxation.htm

Thus only the king could grant rights to use of wasting assets of the
land, receiving his "royalty" as a share in the profit.
As Pacalis mentions, intellectual property was originally protected by
royal patents, in effect, transferring the right to receive "royalty"
to the holder of the patent.  At some point, no doubt, the word also
became common for this non-royal usage.

This is only a supported expansion on Paf's Clarification, and a bit
of speculation that begs for a better reference.

Hi pacalis and myoarin,
these are very helpful, I think this answers my question!
is there no way you can be rewarded?

Not that I know - google closed applications for new researchers. If
you are in anyway able to help me into the system I would love that. I
am a Doctoral student in technology management (pacalis at gmail.com)
with background in IP, entrepreneurship, biotech and Info Sys.

Tut, tut, Pacalis, we're not suppose to post email addresses here.
Besides, I am sure that Pafalafa-ga could have posted the same
information, but as it cannot be supported by references, it was not
felt to be a justifiable "answer".  I'd give him credit if he chooses
to post an answer.

Glad to be able to help.
Regards, Myoarin

hi
well, I don't know how to get you in the system, but thanks for your help.