Who owns the ISS?

Ownership of ISS is laid out in a lengthy legal framework document which basically states that each nation retains ownership and jurisdiction over the sections it contributed. The owners are the USA, Russia, the European Union, Japan and Canada, each having a portion of the total resources – the EU, for example, claims 8.3 per cent of crew time and communications resources. The EU bartered about half of the availability of the Columbus laboratory to NASA in exchange for passenger seats and cargo on the Shuttle. Any invention made on the ISS is deemed to have been made in the territory of the country whose module it was made on, and any laws of that country apply on board.