Determining the nature of the entity’s promise
B57 To determine whether an entity’s promise to grant a licence provides a customer
with either a right to access an entity’s intellectual property or a right to use an
entity’s intellectual property, an entity shall consider whether a customer can
direct the use of, and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits from, a
licence at the point in time at which the licence is granted. A customer cannot
direct the use of, and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits from, a
licence at the point in time at which the licence is granted if the intellectual
property to which the customer has rights changes throughout the licence
period. The intellectual property will change (and thus affect the entity’s
assessment of when the customer controls the licence) when the entity
continues to be involved with its intellectual property and the entity undertakes
activities that significantly affect the intellectual property to which the
customer has rights. In these cases, the licence provides the customer with a
right to access the entity’s intellectual property (see paragraph B58). In contrast,
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a customer can direct the use of, and obtain substantially all of the remaining
benefits from, the licence at the point in time at which the licence is granted if
the intellectual property to which the customer has rights will not change (see
paragraph B61). In those cases, any activities undertaken by the entity merely
change its own asset (ie the underlying intellectual property), which may affect
the entity’s ability to provide future licences; however, those activities would not
affect the determination of what the licence provides or what the customer
controls.
B58 The nature of an entity’s promise in granting a licence is a promise to provide a
right to access the entity’s intellectual property if all of the following criteria are
met:
(a) the contract requires, or the customer reasonably expects, that the entity
will undertake activities that significantly affect the intellectual property
to which the customer has rights (see paragraph B59);
(b) the rights granted by the licence directly expose the customer to any
positive or negative effects of the entity’s activities identified in
paragraph B58(a); and
(c) those activities do not result in the transfer of a good or a service to the
customer as those activities occur (see paragraph 25).
B59 Factors that may indicate that a customer could reasonably expect that an entity
will undertake activities that significantly affect the intellectual property
include the entity’s customary business practices, published policies or specific
statements. Although not determinative, the existence of a shared economic
interest (for example, a sales-based royalty) between the entity and the customer
related to the intellectual property to which the customer has rights may also
indicate that the customer could reasonably expect that the entity will
undertake such activities.
B60 If the criteria in paragraph B58 are met, an entity shall account for the promise
to grant a licence as a performance obligation satisfied over time because the
customer will simultaneously receive and consume the benefit from the entity’s
performance of providing access to its intellectual property as the performance
occurs (see paragraph 35(a)). An entity shall apply paragraphs 39–45 to select an
appropriate method to measure its progress towards complete satisfaction of
that performance obligation to provide access.
B61 If the criteria in paragraph B58 are not met, the nature of an entity’s promise is
to provide a right to use the entity’s intellectual property as that intellectual
property exists (in terms of form and functionality) at the point in time at which
the licence is granted to the customer. This means that the customer can direct
the use of, and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits from, the
licence at the point in time at which the licence transfers. An entity shall
account for the promise to provide a right to use the entity’s intellectual
property as a performance obligation satisfied at a point in time. An entity shall
apply paragraph 38 to determine the point in time at which the licence transfers
to the customer. However, revenue cannot be recognised for a licence that
provides a right to use the entity’s intellectual property before the beginning of
the period during which the customer is able to use and benefit from the
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licence.