session 5

Title

Legal Impact of Scientific Investigation on the Protection of Intellectual Property

type

oral

Description

Research in extra-terrestrial space, including in the areas of space resources and long term human habitation, is being increasingly carried out by private entities operating under international cooperation schemes. Given the importance of intellectual property for these activities, the concept of territoriality and jurisdiction in IP law allows the extension of jurisdiction under national (regional) law to those objects which the respective country has registered and launched into outer space; registered space objects are treated as quasi-territorial for the purposes of intellectual property. The IP framework is equally relevant to scientific and technological advancement. In the absence of explicit international rules, several international cooperations agreements have been concluded for such space projects. This session invites papers that aim to analyse these agreements, to study the interrelation between the protection of intellectual property and the principles of the common interest and non-appropriation of outer space as formulated by the Outer Space Treaty.