Make “Space” for Innovation
John Thurston As space exploration becomes increasingly privatized, archaic regulations based on Cold-War era treaties are proving unduly burdensome—they threaten to hinder private innovation and handicap a great societal benefit. Although space is best regulated through international treaties, Congress can take the lead in ushering global space law into the modern era by establishing preferred, and hopefully influential, standards here in the United States. Congress ought to amend the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 to centralize regulatory authority, streamline authorization processes, allocate more risk to the private sector, and proclaim limited support for private property rights in space....
Patent Law in Space
Marie Weisfeiler The potential for private technological expansion into space raises questions of how to protect intellectual property rights of inventions that are both brought into space and made in space. While there are international treaties governing space law, none of these treaties discuss how to designate or enforce patent rights in space. The International Space Station has implemented a solution of quasi-territoriality to establish patent rights. This essay suggests, however, that this solution will be deficient when private entities venture further into space exploration. This essay then explores the possibility of a universal approach to patent law in space...