2017 Law Student Writing Competition Winning Article: The Future of Drones is The Railroad

Jonathan R. Kathrein

Jonathan Kathrein is a California attorney with a passion for business and real estate law, especially transactions. He spent his law school years researching real property and regulatory issues for the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. Jonathan would like to thank Erythean Martin for suggesting the idea, Tyson Winarski for encouraging him to write about it, Douglas H. Bosco for his mentorship, and the wonderful students at University of San Francisco School of Law for editing his work. This article was originally published in the Spring 2017 edition of the University of San Francisco Intellectual Property and Technology Law Journal (Volume 21, Issue 2, Page 127).

I. INTRODUCTION

Amazon, Google/Alphabet, FedEx, UPS, 7-Eleven, and others are developing a system of drones to deliver packages.¹ These drone delivery companies (operators) believe drone delivery can significantly reduce their shipping costs and increase the speed of their deliveries.² In July 2016, 7-Eleven completed the first retail drone delivery in the United States.³In December 2016, Amazon Prime Air, the Amazon drone delivery service, completed its first delivery in England.⁴Now, Amazon is planning airborne warehouses.⁵