Google lost a five-patent lawsuit against Sonos. As a result, it will no longer be possible to change the volume of a speaker group.
Last August, we learned that Google was losing a lawsuit brought by the company specializing in connected speakers Sonos for infringement of five patents.
A second decision was expected to invalidate or confirm the first, and it is done, Google has indeed lost. And this is already starting to have concrete consequences.
What are the consequences ?
In theory, this decision by the US International Trade Commission could prohibit Google from importing products using the technologies covered by these patents. The verge. And since most of these products are made in China, we thought for a while that it would be stuck for Google.
But according to Bloomberg, in September, the Mountain View firm had anticipated this decision by providing for ” workarounds ”For each patent. It is these solutions that could cause certain products to lose interest or quality depending on the case.
Google spokesperson José Castaneda also told The verge: “We do not anticipate any impact on our ability to import or sell our products. “
Will Google products lose in the exchange?
Yeah, probably. The firm has 60 days to comply with the judgment, but we can already get a good idea of some of the changes thanks to a blog post published on the Google site on the subject.
It is modestly specified that “Due to a recent court decision”, the Speaker Group function will incur the costs.
It will no longer be possible to adjust the volume of the entire speaker group, you will now have to change the volume of each speaker individually. A dead loss for users who appreciated this functionality.
Some Google Nest products could be affected by this court ruling in the next two months. // Source: Google
In addition to this, some users will now have to go through another app to update their speakers.
But according toThe verge, the list of affected devices will be much longer. Pixel 3 and Pixel 4, Nest Hubs, Nest Mini, but also Chromecast, and Pixel and PixelBook Go PC with YouTube Music could lose functionality.
To follow us, we invite you to download our Android and iOS application. You will be able to read our articles, files, and watch our latest YouTube videos.