Week in Space Data, every Friday.
Space technology patents and IP disputes, checked against their sources
Patent data is not being updated.
Live USPTO patent data is coming: we are setting up access to the USPTO Open Data Portal, which replaced PatentsView. Until then this page shows only the few records we have checked by hand, each with its source. We removed our earlier filing counts, company rankings and trend charts because we could not source them.
3 technologies from NASA's Technology Transfer portfolio. The full portfolio is at technology.nasa.gov.
Counter-rotating bucket drum excavator robot designed for lunar and Martian regolith mining. Low-mass design enables efficient excavation in reduced gravity environments.
Nickel-titanium shape memory alloy actuator for splitting rocks and extracting resources on planetary surfaces without explosive or high-energy mechanical systems.
Transparent electrode system using traveling electric waves to repel lunar and Martian dust from solar panels, optical surfaces, and habitat windows without mechanical contact.
Cases involving space companies, with their outcome.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. v. Blue Origin LLC (PTAB inter partes review of US 8,678,321) (2014)
SpaceX asked the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in 2014 to review Blue Origin's patent on landing rocket boosters on a platform at sea. In 2015 the board granted Blue Origin's own motion to cancel the remaining 13 of 15 claims, a win for SpaceX.
Viasat, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission (D.C. Cir. No. 21-1123, consolidated with petitions by DISH Network and The Balance Group) (2022)
Viasat challenged the FCC's April 2021 approval of SpaceX's request to fly Starlink satellites at lower altitudes, arguing the FCC had to do an environmental review under NEPA. On August 26, 2022 the D.C. Circuit upheld the FCC, finding Viasat lacked standing on its NEPA claim. The case concerned licensing and environmental review, not patents.
Every record here links to the page that confirms it. Patent filing data will return when our USPTO Open Data Portal connection is live. This page is for information and research only and is not legal advice.