Gene patents are potentially even more lucrative and the challenge here is the patent protection that prevents other companies from advancing genetic research without paying a royalty or licensing fee.

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Loads of companies use the technology of others, sometimes freely, sometimes for a fee or in cross-licensing agreements.

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Although many consumer game devices eventually turn a profit, they often hit the market as a loss leader, herding gamers into a closed ecosystem and securing a revenue stream for the manufacturer -- every Nintendo, Xbox or PlayStation game made funnels a small licensing fee to the owner of the platform.

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If an advertiser needs a picture of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe or the Eiffel Tower lit up at night, it has to pay a licensing fee not only to Corbis but also to the dead celeb's estate or to the French.

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Many bundling arrangements take the form of site-licensing agreements, under which companies or other organisations pay a single fee for unlimited online access to a database, say, or a software package.

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The council's licensing committee said that financial hardship may be relevant when granting or renewing individual licences but the general fee was reasonable.

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