Yes, the purchaser acquires the right to make a copy. However, in the commercial world, when we think of royalties for the use of copyrighted materials we usually think of an enterprise that makes multiple copies for resale. In this case, the customer is in the same position whether it receives a digital product in the mail or downloads it from the Internet. By using the form of delivery as the basis for determining if a transaction results in business profits or royalties, when the customer is purchasing the same basic product, the form, not the substance of the transaction determines its character. Use of digital products - The majority of TAG members believe that temporary use of a digital product results in business profits, not royalties.
Temporary use means use for a period that is less than the useful life of the digital product.
For reasons similar to those applied to downloaded digital products, a minority of the TAG members believe payments for such use are royalties. Digital product downloaded for a single use A majority believed that where a digital product is downloaded for a single use the transaction should be characterized as either services, payment for the use of property, or payment for the purchase of property. All of these transactions result in business profits. A minority would characterize revenues from such transactions as royalties. Application hosting A user may pay an unrelated host company for the use of software.