Loon Balloons: An Uber and Out?

July 10, 2017

I read a long write up in Wired Magazine. The story is titled “The Lawsuit That Could Pop Alphabet’s Project Loon Balloons.” The main point of the write up is that Google may have poked itself with an intellectual property X-Acto knife blade. An outfit named Space Data has been into balloons and other assorted activities for years. The key passage for me was this statement:

It [Space Data] convinced the US Patent and Trademark Office to cancel most of one of Project Loon’s foundational patents, and say that Space Data came up with the idea first. 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.

To make a long story short, the Google is now the Uber-type outfit to Space Data which is wearing a Googley T shirt. I assume that Space Data will create Google style flashing badges with the words “patent infringement” blinking cheerfully.

I have loved the idea of Loon balloons. Actually, not me. The Beyond Search goose has a soft spot for loons. I think our goose once dallied aloft with a svelte loon.

Stephen E Arnold, July 10, 2017

Comments

2 Responses to “Loon Balloons: An Uber and Out?”

  1. voyance on July 11th, 2017 5:22 am

    voyance

    Loon Balloons: An Uber and Out? : Stephen E. Arnold @ Beyond Search

  2. Gema Northcut on July 15th, 2017 4:14 am

    It has been really one of the top blogs i have checked out. It was actually very informative.Looking forward for a lot more blogs of this in near future

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