Intellectual Landlord

An Intellectual Landlord licenses or otherwise gets paid for limited use of Intangible assets. There are three major subtypes of Intellectual Landlord:

• A Publisher provides limited use of information assets such as software, newspapers, or databases in return for a purchase price or other fee (often called a subscription or license fee). When a Publisher sells a copy of an information asset, the customer receives certain limited rights to use the information, but the publisher usually retains the right to make additional copies and resell the information. Example: Microsoft. Many publishers also receive revenues from advertising that is bundled with the information assets, but this revenue is classified as part of the Attractor business model
• A Brand Manager gets paid for the use of a trademark, know-how, or other elements of a brand. This includes franchise fees for businesses such as restaurant or hotel chains. Example: Wendy’s.
• An Attractor attracts people’s attention using, for example, television programs or web content and then “sells” that attention (an intangible asset) to advertisers. The Attractor may devote significant effort to creating or distributing the assets that attract attention, but the source of revenue is from the advertisers who pay to deliver a message to the audience that is attracted. This business model is common in radio and television broadcasting, some forms of publishing, and some Internet-based businesses. Example:
  • New York Times
  • Google