Impressive, almost 600 words and not a peep about the lawsuit they lost, and invalidation of patents. Oh Im sorry, I mean settled ;-) how insensitive of me. Of course they didnt steal anything, there is no conviction.
> Loon’s patent for changing a balloon’s direction by adjusting its altitude—a core feature of both systems—is now legally back in Space Data’s hands.
I'm sure there's a more complicated argument but that method has been in use by balloonists since the 1800's; it's pretty much the only way to steer an unpowered airship. Slapping "computer" on top of an obvious method is just riding the broken patent system.
The patent is not "just for" the use of this method, the patent is for a system that makes use of this method for the purpose of creating a lighter than air communications network of nodes that operating in predetermined altitude ranges with no lateral positioning control. (specifically, look at claim 40 on page 28, and claim 1 on page 26).
(Not defending the patent... just throwing more context).
I mean, it also looks like this patent is expired now...
The company James Gosling worked at after Sun used fins and buoyancy to move autonomous submarines. That company now belongs to Boeing and they might be interested in this development.
Or rather they would be if our patent system did not allow you to repatent things by slapping “in water” or “wireless” on things that were already patented before.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-lawsuit-that-could-pop-alpha...
https://9to5google.com/2017/07/10/project-loon-patents/
https://www.law.com/therecorder/2019/07/29/google-settles-ip...