Google has been found guilty of infringing a Sonos patent. Therefore, it must pay a fine for every device sold with the technology.
Google must pay $ 32.5 million, or $ 2.30, for more than fourteen million devices that Google has sold.
The case concerns Sonos’ synchronization technology that allows speakers throughout the house to play the same audio synchronously. Google would have acquired knowledge of that technology through a previous collaboration and incorporated it into its smart speakers.
Sonos, therefore already sued Google in 2020. In 2021, the judge ruled that Sonos: Google violated five patents. As a result, some Google devices manufactured outside the US could also not be imported to the US.
A counter-complaint was later filed, with Google claiming that Sonos infringed Google’s patents. The quarrel between the two companies is also noticeable to the consumer. For example, the recently released Sonos Era 100 no longer has Google voice control.
Last week, the judge ruled that one of Sonos’ patents is still infringed. According to the judge, new or updated versions of Google’s devices were in violation after the initial conviction in 2021.
The specialized site Law360 notes that the judge regrets that the two companies cannot settle their dispute. In which he also lashed out at patent lawsuits in their entirety. This often concerns particular technical matters. At the same time, patents have often been used for years as ammunition to force a sector peer or competitor to pay. You can read the full statement here.
