The US International Trade Commission decided on January 6 that Google steals Sonos tech. In a key court ruling, ITC said that Google violated five audio technology patents owned by Sonos.
In August last year, a judge ruled that Google infringed upon Sonos’ patents. Sonos is in a legal battle after it sued the Silicon Valley giant.
Eddie Lazarus, Sonos Chief Legal Officer said in an statement that:
“We appreciate that the ITC has finally validated the five Sonos patents included in this case. The court ruled that Google infringes on all five, which shows an overall win. Also, the decision underscores the strength of Sonos’ extensive patent portfolio and the meaningless denial of copying by Google.”
Google steals Sonos tech?
In January 2020, Sonos filed a case against Google for allegedly copying its wireless speaker design. The audio technology company urged the ITC to ban Google laptops, phones, and speakers.
Sonos chief executive Patrick Spence appeared before the US House antitrust committee. He attested that Google “blocked the company from enabling Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant from being active simultaneously.”
Lazarus said that the Sonos patents “cover Sonos’ groundbreaking innovation on popular home audio features.” The features of speakers include synchronization, stereo pairing, and independent volume control.
Sonos disclosed that they began warning Google about the infringement in 2016 during the initial launch of the Google Home. But the search giant ignored the warning.
The company said it charged Google for violating a total of 100 patents. However, Google countersued Sonos for patent infringement, claiming it contributed “substantial Google engineering resources” to help Sonos in the past.
Google has always defended that its technology was developed independently and not copied from Sonos.
Possible impacts of the court ruling
After the ITC agreed that Google steals Sonos tech, the Verge asked Sonos which Google products were affected by the decision. Sonos sent them a laundry list that included Pixel phones home devices (Nest Hub, Nest Mini, Chromecast). It also includes Pixel computers like the PixelBook Go and the YouTube Music app installed. The ruling is broader, saying that “networked speakers and devices capable of controlling them involving the infringement” are affected. But only if Google has not already applied the approved workarounds,
We do not see an effect of the ruling on our ability to sell or import products,” Google spokesperson José Castaneda told The Verge.
Google might continue importing and selling these devices even if Sonos hints that Google’s devices would be worse. And Google would have to eliminate product features to circumvent the importation ban imposed by the ITC.
Either way, the court finds that Google did steal Sonos’ patented technology, hurting the image of Google’s hardware business. The tech leader has expanded its business in the innovative home space in recent years. They even claimed that Google WiFi or Nest WiFi was the best selling router in the market in 2019.
How does this affect the users? The impact is probably minimal on Google device users though it is still a massive win for Sonos.
It does not directly affect the users at the moment. The import ban covers Google devices imported into the US. However, the ITC has given Google 60 days to comply before fully implementing the ban. Google might roll out software updates to provide alternative solutions that don’t infringe on the five Sonos patents.
