Patent Representation

That same day, on the ninth floor of the Ovesto Mage Tower.

Under the clear, bright light of the magic lamps, elegant runes gleamed like treasured masterpieces in an art gallery. The murals on the walls, flowers beside the tables, and substantial bookcases created a warm yet refined atmosphere.

On one wall, the curtains of an enormous floor-to-ceiling window stood open. Through the glass, the city at night and the outlines of distant mountains were visible, giving the lofty sensation of standing among the clouds and looking down upon the world.

Roland sat on a large, comfortable, soft sofa beside the window with its sweeping view. After reading the Atrelin Intellectual Property Protection Act and the related material on patent representation displayed on the projection screen, he fell into thought.

As he pondered, a cute cat-eared maid walked in. With a slight smile, she said brightly, "Mr. Roland, Master just got back, meow~"

"All right, I'll go see my teacher."

As Roland answered, he could not help glancing at her, though the thought that came to mind was, This is how a man ought to live.

He had once vowed to take his teacher as his role model in life. It seemed...

After he reached the study, Ovesto said little, simply instructing the cat maid to summon a potbellied, wealthy merchant from the waiting room next door.

Although the man had ordinary looks and small eyes that lent him a shrewd, crafty air, his clothes and accessories were clearly expensive yet tasteful, without a trace of nouveau riche vulgarity. He had even put on a pair of the gold-rimmed glasses commonly worn by mages, deliberately imitating their scholarly elegance.

"Greetings, Lord Ovesto."

The man removed his top hat, placed his right hand over his chest, and bowed to Ovesto first. Then he bowed to Roland as well. "You must be Lord Roland. A pleasure to meet you. My name is Rick Etsa. I am a member of the Hilt Company's board of directors and a shareholder in the Hilt Consortium.

"On behalf of our consortium, I have come to discuss licensing arrangements with you both concerning Oracle and the magic runes derived from it."

Patents in Atrelin were closely linked to arcane achievements and inherently bound to individual mages. They could not be transferred.

Moreover, financial dealings involving the mage class generally used a framework agreement known as "Limited-Risk Investment Return."

Under this system, the legal cap on returns from investments in arcane research was one hundred times the investment. At the product development stage, it was ten times, and once a mature business model existed, it fell to just one times. Financial markets were even more strictly regulated, leaving no room for development at all.

Beyond that, capital operations were prohibited unless they involved projects closely connected to mages, such as arcane research topics, magical experiments, the construction of mage towers, or participation in planar wars.

This reduced merchants to mere dependents of the mages. They either had to cast their nets wide and cultivate ties with as many high-ranking mages as possible, or expand outward and take part in planar colonization.

The main subject of today's meeting was the rights associated with Oracle and its magical applications. Under Ovesto's guidance, Roland had begun considering how to commercialize his intellectual property.

As for Rick and the consortium behind him, there was no need to ask: they were his teacher's financial backers. The gold coins used in the previous experiment had probably come from them.

"Hello, Mr. Rick."

Roland stepped forward and shook his hand, then went over to sit on a nearby sofa.

Ovesto said, "It is just as he said. It is time we discussed this matter. What plans do you have?"

Roland said, "I think that in the field of Arcana, we can focus on the essentials and let the smaller matters go. At least in the beginning, we need to strongly encourage our fellow mages to take part in research and break new ground.

"Rather than restricting these developers' rights, I should give them some benefits.

"I intend to charge royalties ranging from only 1% to 15% on the relevant inventions!"

Atrelin already had a highly developed body of laws, regulations, and business models governing intellectual property. Roland decided to follow local practice and adopt some of the established approaches.

Even so, he had plans of his own.

"Besides that, even Oracle itself will follow a model where most of it is free, and only a small portion requires payment.

"For example, I'll charge for the runes for earth, wind, water, and fire; wind, rain, thunder, and lightning; frost and blazing flames; and anything else that might relate directly to magic elements. Everything else will be free.

"To guard against any oversights, I'll still retain the relevant rights. They can simply sit there as a defensive measure."

"Brilliant. Twenty percent of the runes can generate eighty percent of the revenue, while making most of them freely available will earn you a good reputation.

"But in reality, free things are the most expensive. You can easily draw most people in and milk them for profit. There will be plenty of ways to do that when the time comes."

Rick could not help praising the idea.

Roland merely smiled faintly.

In truth, he still had traditional characters, simplified characters, and a whole range of other things at his disposal.

Oracle's success had shown him the potential of what he possessed. There were many other things he could introduce as well, creating tremendous value.

Under these circumstances, he was not thinking about how to milk people for profit at all. He was thinking about exploring the world, transforming it, and realizing his own worth in life!

Atrelin also protected subsequent inventions, guaranteeing their creators at least a 70% share of the rights.

For example, if someone used the knowledge in the Introduction to the Magical Application of Oracle to develop a Spell Scroll for a previously unreleased Level 1 Spell, that person would hold at least 70% of the intellectual property rights, while the remaining 30%, at most, would belong to Roland.

Roland would likewise have to give 30% to the owners of any knowledge he had drawn upon. If they were no longer alive, that share would belong to the state.

However, since the magical application of Oracle had not drawn upon any other related papers-public-domain knowledge did not count-he actually owned 100% of the rights.

This was another major advantage of new knowledge.

Soon, with Ovesto as witness, Roland and the Hilt Consortium's representative signed a series of commercial licensing and representation agreements-draft frameworks-leaving the latter to handle their implementation.

Once the agreements were signed, both parties agreed to confirm the more specific details after some time had passed. They could then turn the patented inventions arising from Oracle's magical applications into products.

They would begin with the Oracle scroll Roland had pioneered, "Light," and gradually roll out all kinds of Level 0 Spells.

If anyone else used the relevant knowledge to develop, produce, and sell these Oracle Spell Scrolls, Hilt, as his representative company, would collect royalties on Roland's behalf, turning this portion of his intellectual property into gleaming gold coins.

From then on, the good days of earning money without lifting a finger would begin. One of the smaller goals behind his thought, This is how a man ought to live, would soon be realized.