Google has successfully convinced a federal judge in California that it did not violate the audio patents of Sonos, a tech company. As reported by Reuters, Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court overturned a previous ruling that imposed a $32.5 million fine on the tech giant for infringing on Sonos’ patents related to speaker group management, according to Engadget.
Judge Alsup explained that Sonos’ patent claims “seemingly derive from an application in 2006,” but it appears that the company did not file patent applications related to it until 2019 and did not introduce the technology into its products until 2020, years after Google, in 2014, proposed using Sonos’ multi-room audio technology during collaboration.
While Sonos had linked its patent claims to the 2006 application, it seemed that the company was ahead of Google’s products. However, Judge Alsup stated that the early application failed to disclose the actual invention, and in 2019, Sonos amended its patent application to include new material.
In his decision, Alsup wrote, “This was not a case of an inventor leading the industry to something new; this was a case of an industry leading the inventor out of the woods to say that it had gotten there first — and levying new claims to read on competing products out of an old application.”
Sonos had filed a lawsuit against Google in a federal court in early 2020, accusing it of violating five of its speaker patents. Patrick Spence, the CEO of Sonos, at that time, claimed that Google was “blatantly and knowingly” infringing on Sonos technology and refusing to cooperate for a “mutually beneficial solution.”
Earlier this year, a federal jury in California ruled that Google had indeed infringed on a Sonos-owned patent and ordered the tech giant to pay a fine of $32.5 million. Alsup also served as the judge for those proceedings. However, in his latest decision, he stated, “The trial shed light on what happened here.”
A spokesperson for Sonos told Reuters in a statement that the recent ruling is “factually and legally wrong,” and as a result, Sonos clearly does not intend to accept the latest judgment. The official spokesperson stated that the company plans to appeal the decision.
The recent ruling in favor of Google is a significant development in this ongoing legal dispute. It highlights the complexities of patent infringement cases and the challenges faced by companies seeking to protect their intellectual property in the fast-paced world of technology.
While Google has won this particular case, it remains to be seen how the legal battle between the two companies will unfold in the future, as Sonos has expressed its intention to appeal the decision.
