"So, I'm kind of making this up as I go along," I warned Joe as I sat in the Lookout tower discussing interstellar exploration and galactic politics, "but here's where I'm going with my plan. Do other empires honor the Galactic Union license system? Or do they have their own systems?"
"Both, The Galactic Union and other major empires use a reciprocal licensing system. They honor each other's claimed intellectual and unique planetary property rights. If a Galactic Union member wishes to make have ssshssshsh for breakfast, a glandular secretion of a certain sea-dwelling creature from a planet within the Rim-ward Empire, they must license it through the Galactic Empire. The price would include the full fee charged by the Rim-ward Empire and an additional tax or duty levied by the Galactic Empire. Generally, about twenty percent for empires with preferred status, or fifty percent for those without preferred status."
