Amazon has been given limited scope to test delivery operations using unmanned aircraft, or drones, and many others are scrambling to be granted approval for the technology, but there are multiple risks. Law firm Reed Smith has published a white paper considering the legal and risks involved in using drones. The firm’s New York managing director Douglas J. Wood says that drones offer great opportunities: “The myriad ways in which drones are being used to film, deliver, monitor, and touch our lives is truly transformative to the way we do business,” but he also warns that they could land you on the wrong side of the law: “Legal issues surrounding drones can be overlooked or ignored at the operator’s peril, especially as the law naturally lags behind how this new technology is regulated.” Mr Wood co-edited the report
Crowded Skies: Opportunities and Challenges in an Era of Drones which highlights some of the ancillary risks from the use of unmanned aircraft including intellectual property, insurance, and land use rights—to avoid risks that include copyright infringement, invasion of privacy, bodily injury, property damage, and trespassing violations.
Read the full report.
