Google smart speakers infringe Sonos patents, ITC preliminary ruling

Sonos won an early victory in its lawsuit against Google on Friday, when the United States ‘International Trade Commission ruled that Google had infringed five of Sonos’ smart speaker patents. The decision is preliminary and subject to full ITC review, but it could result in Google’s smart speaker ban.

In January 2020, Sonos filed a patent infringement action against Google targeting Google’s smart speakers, the Google Home, and later the Nest Audio line. Sonos pioneered internet-connected speakers that easily connect to streaming services, while Google speakers combine a similar feature set with voice-activated Google Assistant controls. To hear Sonos tell the story, Google got a behind-the-scenes look at Sonos hardware in 2013, when Google agreed to expand Google Play Music support for Sonos speakers. Sonos claims that Google used this access to “blatantly and knowingly” copy Sonos audio functionality for the Google Home speaker, launched in 2016.

However you want to measure it, Sonos is a small company compared to the tech giants that it regularly battles. The 19-year-old company only offers products in the smart speaker market and has a market capitalization of $ 5 billion. Its competitors, Google, Amazon and Apple, are among the largest companies in the world, each with a market capitalization in excess of $ 1.5 trillion. To complicate matters for Sonos, the company relies on both Google and Amazon to do business in research, advertising and retail, and it feared retaliation from the two giants. Additionally, once Amazon and Google entered the market, Sonos was forced to adopt support for both voice assistants in order to compete. In 2020, Sonos said Amazon appeared to be using its technology as well, but would focus its legal efforts on Google.

TechCrunch has obtained statements from both sides of the fight. First, Sonos chief legal officer Eddie Lazarus told the site: “Today the ALJ found that the five patents claimed by Sonos are valid and that Google is infringing all five patents. We are pleased that the ITC has confirmed Google’s blatant violation of Sonos’ patented inventions. This move reaffirms the strength and breadth of our portfolio, marking a promising step in our long-term quest to defend our innovation against big tech monopoly hijacking.

Meanwhile, Google said, “We are not using Sonos technology and we are competing on the quality of our products and the merits of our ideas. We do not agree with this preliminary ruling and will continue to do so. assert our point of view in the next review process. “

A final decision is expected on December 13, and it’s not just speakers that could be banned if the two companies don’t do it nicely. Products that connect to these speakers, like Pixels and Chromecasts, could also be banned.