A Critical Analysis On The Applicability Of "Doctrine Of Temporary Presence" On Outer Space Objects- An Exception To Patent Infringement
Sanjana Santhosh, BBA LLB, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru
ABSTRACT
In principle, intellectual property ("IP") rights encourage and ensure a thriving intellectual community and technical advancement. It is critical for space exploration to create and incentivize a favourable environment for research and development.1 Everything said in this comment would be science fiction if it weren't for it. Varied countries take different approaches to IP's core beliefs, but the utilitarian, incentive-based view is by far the most universally recognised. As a result, if intellectual products that are socially important are vulnerable to misappropriation or undue reproduction, they will suffer.
The most fundamental relationship between states is sovereignty, which is based on territory, population, authority, and recognition. It's difficult to picture future mass expansion into space without thinking of "colonialism" in the third millennium.3 Not unexpectedly, the initial international accords on space were primarily concerned with national ambitions and sovereign state growth. The appropriation of space, in particular, struck the drafters as a crucial issue that required specific restrictions. As a matter of international space law, national sovereignty in outer space is formally non-existent, having been rejected by the United Nations and not contemplated in its treaties. Through the execution of international treaties and other legal instruments, international law balances sovereignty. It restrains national ambitions by providing a well-structured and stable legal system designed to reduce tensions and promote collaboration. Although international law is well developed on Earth, it is still in its infancy in space.
Although IP serves the same purpose in space as it does on Earth, the implications of its deployment in space could be far worse. In the world of space, a dysfunctional IP rights regime not only has economic and social implications, but it also jeopardises the successful pursuit of space exploration and colonisation, as well as pushing the date of their accomplishment ahead.5 This comment examines an unresolved issue: Whether the Indian Patent law has any provision for applying the doctrine of temporary exception on outer space objects to provide as an exception to patent infringement?
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