The patent battle between Sonos and Google just went in the speaker maker’s favor, with a final ruling finding that Google imported and sold products that infringed on five of Sonos’ audio technology patents. This followed a preliminary ruling against Google last August.
After a years-long fight, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ultimately decided that “the appropriate remedies are a limited exclusion order and a cease-and-desist order against Google.” As such, an import ban on select Google products will go into effect within 60 days, unless President Biden vetoes the decision via a process known as presidential review.
Those Google products include Google Home/Nest speakers, Chromecast devices, and Pixel devices, The New York TimesThe New York Times explains. They are manufactured outside of the US and then imported, and thus subject to the ITC’s ban.
The patents cover “home audio features, including the setup for controlling home audio systems, the synchronization of multiple speakers, the independent volume control of different speakers, and the stereo pairing of speakers,” Sonos tells Android Police.
Google tells the Times it “will seek further review and continue to defend ourselves against Sonos’s frivolous claims about our partnership and intellectual property.” It’s already begun altering its products in the wake of the ruling, like changing how to set up its devices and the Speaker Group functionality.
Sonos says that won’t help. Even with changes, Google’s “products will still infringe many dozens of Sonos patents, its wrongdoing will persist, and the damages owed Sonos will continue to accrue,” Sonos tells Android Police. “Alternatively, Google can—as other companies have already done—pay a fair royalty for the technologies it has misappropriated.”
Sonos also has additional patent infringement lawsuits against Google in federal court.
