This Is a Case About Trade Secrets But in Other News: Google Has a Project Called “Project Loon” Involving Balloons in Earth’s Stratosphere

By CambridgeBayWeather – Own work, GFDL, Link

Here’s a case that’s out of this world, lolololol, I’m ashamed of myself. 

But a recent case out of the Northern District of California, Space Data Corp. v. X, Case No. 16-cv-03260-BLF, deals with weather balloons and a failed negotiation between Space Data and Google regarding becoming partners. Like many corporations who have valuable trade secrets that need to stay protected during negotiations but also need to be revealed so they can be evaluated and discussed, the parties entered into an NDA. This lawsuit resulted from Google’s subsequent development of “Project Loon,” which involves using high-altitude balloons to provide wireless services, and which Space Data alleges uses information Google gained from Space Data during the failed negotiations. 

Space Data’s challenge, of course, is that it knows very little about Google’s Project Loon, and so all of its allegations regarding trade secret misappropriation and breach of the NDA are vague and conclusory. Space Data was unable to point to any confidential information Google used that violated the NDA, and therefore those counts were dismissed. Space Data tried to argue that it didn’t know yet what information Google was using but that it had provided enough information for the court to infer that Google must be using some misappropriated confidential information. The court, however, found there was not enough in the complaint for these causes to survive into discovery. 

A guiding tale for anyone writing up a trade secret complaint right now. 

Space Data’s patent infringement claims against Google still exist. The complaint is available here.