It's a little hard to tell because these new sites (well, law.com is down, so I can't tell) don't link to actual court rulings or patents. But based on this ar

It's a little hard to tell because these new sites (well, law.com is down, so I can't tell) don't link to actual court rulings or patents. But based on this article of the original complaint (https://www.theverge.com/2016/6/15/11945318/google-project-loon-space-data-patent-lawsuit-trade-secret https://www.theverge.com/2016/6/15/11945318/google-project-l...), I am guessing that the patent in question (on the Space Data side) is https://patents.google.com/patent/US6628941?oq=6%2c628%2c941 https://patents.google.com/patent/US6628941?oq=6%2c628%2c941 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...