Patent Governance In Outer Space: Ownership, Enforcement, And Legal Ambiguities
- IJLLR Journal
- Jan 17
- 2 min read
Gouri Krishna P K, LLM (Intellectual Property Rights and Trade Law), School of Law, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru
Prof. Dr. Valarmathi. R, School of Law, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru
ABSTRACT
The introduction of commercialization in the outer space has created a lot of legal confusion regarding regulation of intellectual property rights outside the earth. The international space law, specifically the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, has been conceived in the state-centred paradigm and offers very little guidance on the problems of patent ownership, jurisdiction, and enforcement in a field that is becoming more dominated by commercial entities, multinational cooperation, and AI-driven innovation. Although the Treaty prohibits the national claim of the outer space, it allows the states the assertion of jurisdiction over the registered objects and persons of space, thus creating the pseudo-terrestrial system having problems with the integration of cross-border and collaborative inventive action. The article reviews the failures of the current jurisdictional doctrines, such as functional control, the jurisdiction of the flags, and the modular sovereignty model of the use of space resources, further exploring how the soft-law instruments of Artemis Accords and national legislation on the use of space resources, unilateral systems, are contributing to the fragmentation of regulations and legal confusion. Specific much attention is paid to the obstacles posed by AI-based inventions and the absence of effective regulation tools when operating in a non-sovereign space. According to the article, the use of a territorial patent systems and a system of rights of the contract is insufficient to bring legal certainty in outer space. It suggests establishing a unified global system of space-related intellectual property, to be realised through increased coordination in the context of WIPO and UNCOPUOS, with additional support of specialised arbitration and international space patent index.
Keywords: Patent protection in Outer space, Outer Space Treaty, Global IP regime, Space Commercialisation, Harmonisation of National laws
