INTA panel explores outer space IP challenges
How do you protect marks beyond Planet Earth? A panel at INTA’s annual virtual meeting explored the critical issues, finds Marisa Woutersen.
The rapidly growing outer space industry has created potential challenges for brand owners when protecting their IP rights, as a panel at the International Trademark Association ( INTA) annual virtual meeting discovered.
The session held yesterday, June 29, comprised Sheja Ehtesham, managing partner at ALG India Law Offices, Clark Lackert, deputy general counsel for the World Trade Centers Association, and Isah Akor Yahaya, legal adviser at the National Space Research and Development Agency.
In a joint presentation, Ehtesham and Lackert shed light on the growing commercialisation of outer space—and the accompanying IP issues.
While opportunities in this exciting arena could yet lead to a trillion-dollar industry, they noted that the dearth of current IP protection remains concerning.
The presenters emphasised the need for brand owners to “get ahead of the game” and to adopt “a forward-thinking approach by thinking about outer space in the same way people are thinking about AI or the Metaverse”.
There is, they added, a need for more proactive measures to prevent infringement in space.
Pressing questions such as “how do you register [the IP right]? and “where do you try to enforce it?” remain unanswered, said Ehtesham
Lackert agreed that there was a need to “get ahead of this issue” given the lack of legal regulations governing satellites, space solutions—and even lunar cities.
Expanding legislation
Lackert and Ehtesham went on to explore the legal complexities posed by outer space, specifically drawing attention to existing space treaties such as The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, The Rescue Agreement, The Liability Convention, The Registration Convention, and The Moon Agreement.
While these establish general principles with regard to outer space, both pointed out that they lacked specific guidance on IP protection.
Offering a remedy, Lackert and Ehtesham proposed amending the Outer Space Treaty to encompass IP law.
When looking at The Registration Convention, Lackert acknowledged that while it addresses “physical property, it also needed to prioritise the IP registration.
Further, Ehtesham pointed out that ventures and innovation in space created jurisdictional questions.
“When a space object is launched from a certain country, it is registered with the state register of that country—that's an obligation for all member states. Then there is an extension of territory over that space object, so there's a quasi jurisdiction that's created,” he explained.
‘First of its kind’ report
To tackle such questions, INTA’s ‘IP in space project’ team, released a report in December 2022 to provide a roadmap for addressing IP protection in outer space until 2050.
Noting that the report is “a first of its kind on IP in outer space”, Ehtesham explained:
“What we’ve tried to do is propose two major approaches for further consideration to move forward to trying to create a legal infrastructure for IP in space over the next 30 to 40 years.
“These solutions include arbitration, the expansion of current treaties and the creation of new treaties, as well as the possibility to designate and register in outer space through the Madrid Protocol.”
Both highlighted the need for brand owners to take proactive measures when safeguarding IP rights, including practical measures that can be implemented now.
Specifically, Ehtesham emphasised the importance of “raising awareness of this problem at the national and international level” and “defining outer space as a territory in agreements”.
“Why don’t national laws in other countries relate to protection of IP [in outer space], including trademarks? That is something we can do now, we can register our trademarks in these countries and protect them,” concluded Lackert.
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