How does Altera charge for their IPs?

[Altera_Forum]

I know there are some IPs from Altera are not for free. We need to purchase the IP before we can use it. 

  But I just wonder how does Altera charge the money for the IP? Or more specifically, after I purchased this IP, I can use it for as many products as I want, but Altera only charge the money for once? Because it is difficult to know how many instances I actually use.   Thanks very much.

[Altera_Forum]

Usually, the IP functionality is added to your licence, so you can use it as much as you like as long as your licence doesnt expire.

[Altera_Forum]

Actually you can keep on using it forever, even if your license expires, as long as you use the appropriate version of Quartus II to instantiate the IP.

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks very much, both of you. 

 Let me ask this question in another way. Does Altera not care about how many product use a chargeable IP? If I bought a chargeable IP, I use this IP for 100 products, or 10000 products, the price will be same, right?  Thanks very much.

[Altera_Forum]

as long as the licence is valid, then yes. 

The money is made with the parts, and custom FPGA builds (you can ask altera to make FPGA builds for you), not the IP.

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks very much, Tricky.