A California federal jury ordered Google to pay a $32.5 million fine for violating a patent held by Sonos. The patent pertains to grouping speakers to play audio simultaneously, which Google has been using for a long time.
In 2020, Sonos filed a legal case against Google for allegedly copying its patented multiroom-audio technology. This came after the two companies had previously partnered in 2013.
The US International Trade Commission ruled in favour of Sonos, leading to a limited import ban on certain Google devices. As a result, Google has had to remove some features from its range of smart speakers and smart displays.
The US District Court had previously ruled that early versions of Google’s Chromecast Audio and Google Home had infringed on Sonos’ patent. The jury ruled in favour of Sonos for one patent violation but not for device control through a smartphone. Sonos had previously sued for four other patent violations, but they were dismissed.
Sonos, in a statement, said “We are deeply grateful for the jury’s time and diligence in upholding the validity of our patents and recognising the value of Sonos’s invention of zone scenes. This verdict re-affirms that Google is a serial infringer of our patent portfolio, as the International Trade Commission has already ruled with respect to five other Sonos patents. In all, we believe Google infringes more than 200 Sonos patents and today’s damages award, based on one important piece of our portfolio, demonstrates the exceptional value of our intellectual property. Our goal remains for Google to pay us a fair royalty for the Sonos inventions it has appropriated.”
“This is a narrow dispute about some very specific features that are not commonly used. Of the six patents Sonos originally asserted, only one was found to be infringed, and the rest were dismissed as invalid or not infringed. We have always developed technology independently and competed on the merit of our ideas. We are considering our next steps,” said Google in a statement.
Google and Sonos have been suing each other for patent infringement related to smart speakers. Google recently sued Sonos for infringing on seven patents related to the Google Assistant. It is likely that Google will appeal the decision.
In 2020, Sonos filed a legal case against Google for allegedly copying its patented multiroom-audio technology. This came after the two companies had previously partnered in 2013.
The US International Trade Commission ruled in favour of Sonos, leading to a limited import ban on certain Google devices. As a result, Google has had to remove some features from its range of smart speakers and smart displays.
The US District Court had previously ruled that early versions of Google’s Chromecast Audio and Google Home had infringed on Sonos’ patent. The jury ruled in favour of Sonos for one patent violation but not for device control through a smartphone. Sonos had previously sued for four other patent violations, but they were dismissed.
Sonos, in a statement, said “We are deeply grateful for the jury’s time and diligence in upholding the validity of our patents and recognising the value of Sonos’s invention of zone scenes. This verdict re-affirms that Google is a serial infringer of our patent portfolio, as the International Trade Commission has already ruled with respect to five other Sonos patents. In all, we believe Google infringes more than 200 Sonos patents and today’s damages award, based on one important piece of our portfolio, demonstrates the exceptional value of our intellectual property. Our goal remains for Google to pay us a fair royalty for the Sonos inventions it has appropriated.”
“This is a narrow dispute about some very specific features that are not commonly used. Of the six patents Sonos originally asserted, only one was found to be infringed, and the rest were dismissed as invalid or not infringed. We have always developed technology independently and competed on the merit of our ideas. We are considering our next steps,” said Google in a statement.
Google and Sonos have been suing each other for patent infringement related to smart speakers. Google recently sued Sonos for infringing on seven patents related to the Google Assistant. It is likely that Google will appeal the decision.
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