Jane Lambert
Just a few days before a probe from the United Arab Emirates was due to enter Mars orbit, the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts and the Dubai Future Foundation announced a Courts of the Future initiative known as Courts of Space (see Courts of Space launches into orbit in support of global space economy press release 1 Feb 2021 04:49 PM).
The initiative has three main objectives:
- An international working group from the public and private sectors will consider the types of dispute that might arise from space research and travel;
- The working group will compile or procure the compilation of a Space Disputes Guide; and
- Training judges in the resolution of space disputes.
I discussed the Courts of the Future, The Courts of the Future Forum Charter and the draft Part 40,000 of the DIFC Court Rules in Dubai's Courts of the Future Initiative on 18 Nov 2017.
The international space working group will find that the UN General Assembly proposed the Outer Space Treaty (Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies) as long ago as 16 Dec 1966. There is a UN Office for Outer Space Affairs with responsibility for Space Law.
The international space working group will find that the UN General Assembly proposed the Outer Space Treaty (Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies) as long ago as 16 Dec 1966. There is a UN Office for Outer Space Affairs with responsibility for Space Law.
A number of countries including the United Kingdom have enacted legislation in accordance with the Outer Space Treaty. The Outer Space Act 1986 provided for the licensing of space activities and the registration of space objects. More recently, the Space Industry Act 2018 was passed to enable British businesses to increase their share of a global market estimated to be worth between £155 and £190 billion in 2018. I discussed the topic in Commercial Exploitation of Space: Space Industry Act 2018 on 10 April 2018 in NIPC Law. The House of Commons last discussed the space industry in its debate on the UK Space Industry on 4 Feb 2021 (see Hansard 4 Feb 2021).
Considerable revenues are already generated from such activities as remote sensing, telecommunications, tourism and weather forecasting. The absence of gravity and an atmosphere is an opportunity for low orbit manufacturing which opens the possibly of new products and processes that will require legal protection. Confereneces on IP in space have been held in Luxembourg and the USA which I discussed in Forthcoming Conference in Luxembourg on Innovation, Space Technologies, and Patents on 30 July 2018 in NIPC News and The Role of Intellectual Property in Space Commerce on 18 July 2019 in NIPC Cornwall.
I am following the space industry not out of sheer intellectual cutisoity but because there are opportunities for businesses of all sizes throughout the workd including the Gulf and that these businesses will require advice and representation in respect of their research, development and marketing of new products and manufacturing processes. Anyone wishing to discuss this article or any of the topics mentioned in it should call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during UK office hours or send me a message through my contact form.
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