After audio manufacturer Sonos obtained a ban on the sale of Google products, the Internet giant is now taking itself to court. Google is suing Sonos, accusing the manufacturer of violating patent law in a total of seven cases.
Google files lawsuits against Sonos
Google is fighting back and has filed a total of seven lawsuits for patent infringement against audio manufacturer Sonos, reports TheVerge magazine. The lawsuits are about the smart speakers and voice technology that Sonos uses in its devices.
Among them is the so-called hotword activation of the smart speakers, another revolves around wireless charging, while others are about which speaker from a group responds to a voice input.
The disputes between Google and Sonos have been going on for quite some time, originating in 2020 over multi-room technology that Sonos believed Google had copied.
Google vs Sonos: The perennial dispute
According to Google spokesman José Castañeda, the new lawsuit is about defending its own technologies and challenging “continuous patent infringement on the part of Sonos”.
Two lawsuits have now been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, with more to follow in the coming days before the US International Trade Commission.
Sonos, however, describes the new charges as intimidation tactics. They were filed to counter the monopoly practices of Google, which Sonos openly addressed. Google is only interested in weakening a smaller competitor, Eddie Lazarus, Chief Legal Officer at Sonos, reveals to TheVerge.
Most recently, U.S. judges ruled in favor of Sonos in January 2022 and determined that Google was infringing Sonos’ patents with its devices. A dispute that has now lasted for more than two and a half years. An end or an agreement does not seem to be in sight in the foreseeable future.
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