How to equitably divide the economic benefits of a licensed patent among academic inventors?
(Expanding a bit on Buffy's answer)
Short answer: Use some math to make everyone happy.
This is actually a well-explained problem in economics for which there is a solution.
It is possible to mutually assess everyone's contribution, without anyone unfairly boosting their own contribution, so that the proceeds are distributed in a way that everyone is likely to be satisfied with. This is, as Buffy said, a type of cake-cutting algorithm.
A Tool
If you'd like to skip the theory and go straight to a solution, check out spliddit.org/apps/credit. They provide a web app for everyone to subjectively assess everyone else's contribution and computes the fair proportions. The theory behind it is pretty clever, and you will likely find that everyone finds the splitting to be satisfactory.
A Theory
If you're looking for a more principled answer (other than &quot;try this tool&quot;), here's the paper that describes the theory and method used by Spliddit in rigorous depth: Impartial Division of a Dollar - Clippel, Moulin, Tideman
The method satisfies two formalized criteria:
Impartiality - no one assesses or covertly influences the assessment of their own contribution
Consensus - the ultimate division is compatible with every individual's assessment of others' contributions
Good luck!