In the legal saga which has pitted the web giant Google against Sonos, the audio specialist, since 2022, a new episode took place on May 29, 2023. Sonos has once again won a lawsuit, claiming that Google has violated the patent law using its protected multiroom technology. The ax has fallen: Google must now pay $2.30 per smart speaker sold.
Since 2022, Google and Sonos have been engaged in litigation, with the latter claiming that Google infringed on five of its patents relating to Nest Audio and Chromecast speakers. As a result, Google was forced by American justice to modify its products. In response to this court decision, and to avoid a potential import ban on its products, Google has deactivated two features on its connected speakers and screens.
A fifth battle won by Sonos
We learn that Sonos won a new lawsuit against Google on May 26, 2023, claiming that the latter violated patent law by using Sonos’ protected multiroom technology. Google was therefore ordered to pay a fine of 2.30 dollars for each Google smart speaker sold, a total fine of 32.5 million US dollars for 14 million copies.
This is the fifth lawsuit Sonos has won against Google and Sonos claims Google infringed over 200 other patents. Google, for its part, maintains that the litigation concerns very specific and rarely used features and that only six of the alleged patent infringements have been the subject of a lawsuit. Google insists that it has always developed its technologies independently and competed on the basis of its ideas.
The verdict paves the way for possible additional actions by Sonos against Google, especially since it is unusual that the two companies have not attempted to reach an out-of-court settlement given the time that legal proceedings have taken. can take. Google could potentially resolve the dispute by paying licensing fees to Sonos, or even buying out the company.
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