After losing to Sonos earlier this year, Google filed two lawsuits against its competitor in the smart speaker market, accusing it of patent infringement.
Earlier this year, Sonos won an important first legal round in its fight against Google, accused of infringing five patents for the design of the Home product line. A court decision not without consequences on the operation of Google products. Now it’s Google’s turn to counterattack, the Mountain View firm accusing Sonos of having infringed several patents related to the use of voice recognition.
In two separate complaints, Google claims that seven of its patents have been violated by Sonos speakers. One of these complaints focuses on wireless charging and the activation of the voice assistant by detection of keywords, the other dwells on the operation of the speakers in groups and the selection of the main speaker. for the operation of the wizard.
Google wants to ban the import of Sonos speakers
If these complaints were first filed in California, they will also be filed in the coming days before the International Trade Commission, Google hoping to be able to block imports of the Sonos products concerned. Google’s spokesperson told The Verge that his company wanted “defend its technologies and challenge the manifest and continuous infringement of its patents by Sonos“, and blamed Sonos for having “launched an aggressive and deceptive campaign against its products, at the expense of their mutual customers“.
For the legal director of Sonos, it is a “intimidation attempt“of a giant who”abuses its monopolistic position to undermine a smaller competitor“.