any invention made, used, or sold in outer space on a space object or component thereof under the jurisdiction or control of the united states shall be considered to be made, used or sold within the united states for the purposes of this title, except with respect to any space object or component thereof that is specifically identified and otherwise provided for by an international agreement to which the united states is a party, or with respect to any space object or component thereof that is carried on the registry of a foreign state in accordance with the convention on registration of objects launched into outer space.
we are still looking into what exactly the convention on registration of objects launched into outer space entails.
do you think that image is a mural or bed sheets?
19 comments:
sheets
So the US has patent jurisdiction over space aliens?
What, you come in peace to enlighten our people?... I'm impounding your vehicle it was made in outer space and now belongs to us.... its the law, there's nothing I can do about it...sorry.
i think the u.s. only has jurisdiction over space aliens if they invent something while on our space station or moon colony (a space object under the control of the united states).
for example, imagine that we locked a bunch of space aliens up in some outer space version of guantanamo. if these space aliens invented a better toaster oven, while being held without due process, that oven would be treated as if it was invented in the united states for purposes of patenting.
so if a russian "cosmonot" (spelling?) designs a ground breaking item while on a us space station...it belongs to uncle sam at any point of its conception or use. That's BS! Talk about red tape!
i think there may be some confusion here. although this code about patent law in space sounds very humorous, it isn't really that outlandish.
the u.s. wouldn't own the cosmonaut's invention, or the alien's car for that matter. it only means that if the cosmonaut wanted to get a patent on an invention she came up with in a u.s. space colony, the same guidelines would apply as if she had invented it in mississippi.
that said, if the u.s. were to lock the cosomonaut up in some sort of intergalactic guantanamo-like space station prison camp, she still wouldn't have a right to see the evidence against her.
um, if waterboarding was done in space, would that still count as torture?
thanks for the spelling of Cosmonaut : )
I'm not sure that you could water board in space. The whole procedure seems to rely rather heavily on there being a decent gravitational field.
It really comes down to what we define as "space." In a general sense, space or outer-space is everything beyond the Earth's atmosphere. Therefore, the moon is part of "space." If you look at it that way, you could waterboard in space if you did it on the moon. However, the moon's relatively little mass would make waterboarding slightly less terrifying to the torturee and thus less slightly effective. Therefore, I envision that the U.S. would undertake to set up a waterboarding station near a more massive planet such as Jupiter. The problem with that plan would be locating solid ground on a gas giant such as Jupiter. Then again, you could just simulate a gravitational force by hooking up a giant rocket to the space station and flying it in tight concentric circles.
I agree with the Hamms assessment however, I think the added fact that one is being waterboarded in space whether it be on the moon or on a satellite would probably freak the waterboardee out enough to make up for the lack of gravity. For instance, imagine you are Lance Bass, space tourist, and when at the pinnacle of your ride someone tapes you to a board and begins pouring water on your celophane wrapped head. I think waterboarding in space would be more psychologically damaging than on earth.
There are a number of holes in the space water boarding theories posited in the last two comments.
First of all, I don't agree completely with scrodnal's definition of space. I don't think you can be on the surface of a terrestrial body and still purport to be in space.
Secondly, even if you were on the surface of the moon (or Jupiter or Saturn or Uranus) how do you water board someone who is wearing a space suit? That giant helmet seems like it would get in the way.
As for an orbiting space station creating artificial gravity. While that works great in the movies, we are still a long way off from being able to do that.
That leaves the option j bone suggests of water boarding someone inside a conventional space vehicle such as our shuttle or the current space station. I think the problems there are obvious. You'd try to pour the water on your victim and next thing you know it would be everywhere... shorting out vital mission control systems left and right. You'd be asking for another Apollo 13. Didn't you guys see what happened when Homer tried to eat potato chips on the space shuttle?
So you don't consider the Moon landing to be part of our space program? Is your idea of space just empty space? So the surface of any planet or planetary moon is not space? At what point does an object become big enough such that the surface of the object and the immediate space around the object are no longer space? What about asteroids or the asteroid belt itself? I would agree that if a planet or moon were colonized, there would come a time when the planet or moon was, in a sense, considered home, the way that Earth is. However, until such time, said body would merely be part of space.
And what is the deal with the "Space Shuttle." Why are we shuttling space into space? Isn't there already enough space in space? Or are we shuttling space back to Earth? If so, I would like to get some of that space. Space can be very useful.
I still think waterboarding takes on a whole new dimension in space. Using a space suit could solve a lot of the problems, you just hook up a hose to the face region and have an outlet hose in the feet area. using suction and air/water flow vs actual gravity to move the water over the terrified person. This would work in space (whatever your definition may be).
chinese water torture would be tough to do without gravity, but i think a chinese finger trap would work just fine.
in researching these i found that the chinese origins of both the finger trap and water torture are in dispute.
Of course the surface of the moon is not space. How can a giant object be space? Space means there is nothing, but the moon is certainly something.
And if you use suction or air pressure instead of gravity is it still water boarding? What if there is no board? Sounds like some sort of new fangled space torture to me.
And if you are in the limitless reaches of space, why would you even bother to confine yourself to old earthbound torture techniques? I bet a decent scientist could come up with a whole array of new space torture techniques.
By the way... is it sheets?
i have no idea if it is sheets or not. i grabbed it off the internets, and marta mentioned that the picture looked like bed sheets. my vote is for bed sheets. that makes it 3-0 for sheets.
i have a question regarding your comments. would a decent scientist design space torture techniques?
the term "board" may indeed become antiquated when new space torture techniques are invented that go beyond the conventional torture plank, (as they inevitably will be) but I think the name may remain as it is rooted in history... For instance "tube" is still a recognized term for a television owing to the cathode ray tube responsible for illumination, nowadays fewer and fewer televisions use these, but some still refer to television as "the tube". I think it is good that we are thinking "beyond the board" here; we may all have futures in the CIA.
You say "the tube" I say "boob tube", let's call the whole thing off.
Company is splitting hairs over the various definitions of "decent". It was clear from my comment and this whole discussion in general that I meant "decent" as in "possessing average professional and technical prowess".
then was "a decent scientist could come up with a whole array of new space torture techniques" some kind of dig at me for not coming up with any?
I'm sure that if you applied yourself you could come up with all sorts of great space torture techniques. I have no doubt that you are a descent scientist... However, I don't know if you are a decent scientist (if you know what I mean).
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