Advising a Space or Satellite Business: A Practitioner's Guide to Jurisdiction, Payload Data, Launch Contracts, and Imagery Licensing
By Casey Scott McKay ·
This guide builds an intellectual property programme for a space or satellite business in the order the decisions arise. It begins with export classification and registration, because those two determinations govern who may work on the technology and whose law applies to the asset, and then turns to a claim drafting strategy that assumes in-orbit enforcement is uncertain and puts the enforceable weight on manufacturing, the ground segment, and the software. It works through the launch, rideshare, and hosted payload agreements whose cross-waivers displace ordinary liability and whose intellectual property terms are usually an afterthought, the remote sensing licence that shapes a data product before any private right arises, and the data licence terms that decide whether an analytics customer becomes a downstream market or a competitor. It closes on supplier qualification heritage, the research and publication calendar, and the diligence file that every investor will eventually request.
IP and Technology > Patent Counseling Transactions | Guide | Published 13 April 2026 - Updated 29 June 2026 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
Summary. This guide builds an intellectual property programme for a space or satellite business in the order the decisions arise: export classification and registration first, because they govern who may work on the technology and whose law applies to the asset; then a claim drafting strategy that assumes in-orbit enforcement is uncertain and puts the enforceable weight on manufacturing, the ground segment, and the software. It works through launch, rideshare, and hosted payload agreements, the remote sensing licence that shapes a data product before any private right arises, and the data licence terms that decide whether an analytics customer becomes a downstream market or a competitor.
Keywords: space business IP · registry jurisdiction · section 105 outer space · terrestrial claim drafting · launch agreement cross-waiver · hosted payload terms · remote sensing licence · earth observation data licensing · derived products · ground segment software · export classification · spectrum coordination disclosure · qualification heritage · in-orbit servicing · foreign investment screening
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