The US International Trade Commission has I Agree with Sonos’ Allegations that Google infringed its speaker and poured patents. It issued its first decision back in August, completing its decision banning Google from importing products that infringe Sonos’ intellectual property. Since Google makes its products in China, they cannot be shipped to the US in 60 days after the import ban goes into effect.
Sonos sued Google in 2020 over five patents, including one describing technology that allows wireless speakers to sync with one another. As The New York Times Note: Affected products include the Google Home smart speakers, Pixel phones and computers, and Chromecast devices. While Google faces an import ban, a spokesman said the tech giant doesn’t expect the ruling to disrupt its ability to import and sell devices.
“While we disagree with today’s decision, we appreciate that the International Trade Commission approved our modified designs,” the spokesman said protocol. “We will be launching another review and will continue to defend ourselves against the frivolous claims made by Sonos regarding our partnership and intellectual property.” The Commission did not question these alternative designs in its final decision, which means Google can implement them.
In fact, the Nest team recently announced some changes to speaker groups due to “a recent court ruling”. The most notable change is that in the future, users will no longer be able to adjust the volume of all speakers in a group at the same time. Instead, they would have to set up each speaker individually.
In a statement, Eddie Lazarus, Sonos’ chief legal officer, admitted that there is a possibility “Google may degrade or eliminate product functionality in such a way as to circumvent the ITC’s import ban.” However, he said the technology giant’s products are still “infringing many dozen of Sonos’ patents” – that is, unless Google pays Sonos royalties for its technologies.
His whole statement is:
“We appreciate that the ITC has finally validated the five Sonos patents in question in this case and clearly ruled that Google is infringing all five. This is an overall success that is extremely rare in patent cases, and underscores the strength of Sonos’ extensive patent portfolio and the hollowness of Google’s non-copying. These Sonos patents cover Sonos’ breakthrough invention of hugely popular home audio functions, including facility to control home audio systems, synchronize multiple speakers, independently control the volume of different speakers, and stereo speaker coupling.
Chances are that Google may be able to degrade or eliminate product functionality in a way that circumvents the ITC’s import ban. But while Google may sacrifice the consumer experience in attempting to circumvent this import ban, its products will still infringe many dozen of Sonos patents, its misconduct will continue, and the harm owed Sonos will continue to accumulate. Alternatively, as other companies have already done, Google can pay a reasonable license fee for the misappropriated technologies. “
Publisher’s Note: This article originally appeared on Engadget.
