Patents In The Field Of Outer Space

An Indian space craft successfully entered Mars' orbit, marking it as the first interplanetary mission for the country making India in the process of being the first Asian nation to reach the Red Planet— and the first nation in the world to successfully reach Mars on its first attempt. This post is devoted to raise awareness about the patent laws related to outer space.

Introduction

As we all know patents are granted by state or national governments to inventors. Patents are territorial and are only enforced within the jurisdiction of the granting government. For example, holder of a U.S. patent may only be able to enforce the patent against someone who is using, making, selling or importing the patented invention within the United States. Hence, the owner of the invention must file a separate patent application in countries of his interest, i.e where he wishes to obtain exclusive rights to his invention.