The legal regime of intellectual property rights management in international space projects: prospects and possible models

The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the legal regime governing intellectual property (IP) rights management in the domain of international space activities, with a particular emphasis on the framework of transnational consortia. It presents an interdisciplinary analysis that integrates legal, institutional-economic, and political dimensions of regulating the circulation of IP objects within cooperative space projects involving both public and private actors. The paper argues that, with the intensification of space commercialization, the growing involvement of non-state participants, and the acceleration of technology transfer, IP rights are acquiring not only a technical-legal character but also a strategic function. It is established that traditional national mechanisms for the protection and enforcement of IP rights are insufficient to address emerging challenges in this field, especially concerning objects created in outer space or within international research and technology initiatives. The author substantiates the need to construct a hybrid legal regime for IP governance that would combine the norms of international space law, national legislation, contractual instruments, public law provisions (notably export control), as well as the internal regulations and policies of consortia. Particular attention is given to the transnational space consortium as a novel form of global governance, distinct from the classical transnational corporation, yet fulfilling functions of coordination, institutionalization, and formalization of joint activities among public and private entities. It is emphasized that the establishment of an effective IP governance regime is contingent upon the institutionalization of ex ante licensing procedures, the creation of internal IP management bodies within consortia, and the development of algorithms for the equitable allocation of rights to the results of joint endeavors. The article also highlights potential risks of fragmentation of the international legal order stemming from the increasing autonomy of transnational consortia and the emergence of semi-autonomous normative regimes. In this context, the necessity of modernizing international space law is underlined, with the aim of ensuring a balance between the interests of private innovative development and the principle of equitable access to outer space.