A planned data sale tied to Spirit Airlines’ bankruptcy proceedings has triggered growing concern among the airline’s technology vendors, after Google won an auction to acquire a substantial volume of operational data. The transaction has prompted formal objections from firms who argue that the dataset may include intellectual property they own rather than assets Spirit is entitled to sell.
Doug Kreuzkamp, who founded the startup Springshot in 2011, said he was shocked to learn of Google’s winning bid through news reports. Springshot developed a widely used proprietary platform that helps human operators and AI systems improve airline efficiency and resolve logistics problems, enabling flights to stay on time. Hundreds of airports around the world rely on the software.
According to Kreuzkamp, Springshot powered Spirit’s technology stack for the past three years, right up to the airline’s “very last flight”. Despite this, his company received no notice when Spirit prepared to auction off a large dataset that he believes may improperly include a considerable amount of data and intellectual property belonging to Springshot rather than the airline.
Vendors question what data is actually being sold
In a limited objection filed last month, Springshot argued that Spirit’s sale agreement does not clarify precisely what data is included. The company said the agreement only vaguely references categories such as “productivity and collaboration data”, “core business systems and business application data”, and “workflow and process data”.
Springshot contended that this broad definition fails to distinguish between its own intellectual property held within Spirit’s systems and data that Spirit actually owns and has the right to sell. The firm urged the court to pause the transaction until a transparent forensic process confirms that none of the data acquired by Google belongs to third parties.
Springshot warned that if the bankruptcy court does not intervene, it risks sanctioning what it called an “unauthorized acquisition and use of trade secrets” that could threaten startups. The company expressed concern that the court could set a precedent in which large volumes of intellectual property are transferred to major technology companies through bankruptcy proceedings.
“Bankruptcy cannot become the new land grab for AI,” Kreuzkamp said. “The possession of IP is not ownership.”
A Google spokesperson declined to address the objections directly and repeated a previous statement. “We acquired part of an enterprise dataset from Spirit Airlines, which can be helpful in improving our products and AI models,” the spokesperson said. “We will not receive any personal information from this dataset.”
Kreuzkamp suspects that a range of Spirit vendors could be in a similar position, and his firm is not alone in raising concerns. In a separate objection citing Springshot’s arguments, International Aero Engines LLC and IAE International Aero Engines AG alleged that the dataset might also contain their proprietary commercial information, technical data, and financial data. Both vendors pointed to confidentiality provisions in their Spirit agreements that they say were disregarded during the push to approve the sale.
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Image: arstechnica.com
