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The GNU General Public License v3.0 includes a patent license grant (emphasis added):

... Each contributor grants you a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free patent license under the contributor's essential patent claims, to make, use, sell, offer for sale, import and otherwise run, modify and propagate the contents of its contributor version. ...

Does the term "worldwide" include outer space?

Someone
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2 Answers2

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The language quoted seems clear - worldwide is very broad.

Patents in space are a thing, at least in some cases -

35 U.S.C. 105 INVENTIONS IN OUTER SPACE.

(a) 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, . . .

George White
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It doesn’t matter

Patent law is country by country and under current international law, no country has territory in space, so there is no patent protection in space.

Dale M
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    What about inside a spacecraft? Aren't spacecraft subject to the jurisdiction of the country in which they are registered? – Someone Dec 23 '23 at 20:59
  • @Someone spacecraft are not ships. – Trish Dec 23 '23 at 21:42
  • @Trish so national laws only apply on spacecraft if the particular law says it applies? US amateur radio regulations explicitly say that they apply on US spacecraft, so I'd assumed that means the US has jurisdiction over said spacecraft. – Someone Dec 23 '23 at 22:49
  • @Someone that's not what I said. I said, that the normal "law of the sea" does not apply. – Trish Dec 23 '23 at 22:53
  • @Trish what does "law of the sea" have to do with patents and spacecraft? If the US has, or at least claims, jurisdiction over its spacecraft, as shown by the fact that it has at least one regulation that presumes the government has such jurisdiction, then it seems to logically follow that federal law by default does apply on American spacecraft. – Someone Dec 23 '23 at 22:55
  • "on a ship is the country where the ship is registered" is law of the sea. That is not automatically so for spacecraft. – Trish Dec 23 '23 at 23:07
  • @Trish so national laws do not, by default, apply on that country's spacecraft? – Someone Dec 23 '23 at 23:09
  • @Someone again, that is not what I said. I said it is not the same as in ships. But roughly the same. You can't just swap registry of spacecraft like you can with ships. https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/25083/space-law-jurisdiction – Trish Dec 23 '23 at 23:14
  • @Trish I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you're saying. So spacecraft are, by default, subject to the jurisdiction of the country in which they are registered, but not for the same reason that this is true of ships? – Someone Dec 23 '23 at 23:21
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    @Someone Almost. There are different fringe cases, and once you leave the spacecraft's hull you are in international space, where patents don't apply to people but to registred sattelites... space is more tricky than shos. – Trish Dec 23 '23 at 23:23
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    I assume the patent license grant is as valid in space as patent law. Anyone trying to sue would have to explain why one should not apply but the other should. – gnasher729 Dec 24 '23 at 00:25
  • @gnasher729 my question was about whether "worldwide" includes outer space, because some definitions of "world" do not include space. – Someone Dec 24 '23 at 01:22
  • @Someone Given that currently all spacecraft are built and launched from a location on the Earth, IMHO whether or not you can avoid a patent when in space is moot - as the infraction has already occurred on Earth. – Peter M Dec 25 '23 at 00:16
  • @PeterM if the GPL patent grant is invalid in space, then users would lose their patent license, not be able to avoid infringement. – Someone Dec 25 '23 at 00:32
  • Please note my answer that references US code regarding the topic – George White Dec 25 '23 at 07:06