Sonos Vs Google: The Feud Of Intelligent Speaker Technology Patents Continues In Court

Sono is in dispute with Google on audio patents. (photo: twitter @Sonos)

JAKARTA - Two companies, Sonos Inc and Alphabet's Google LLC will face hearings in San Francisco federal court on Monday 8 May over claims that Google copies the smartphone-speaker technology patented by Sonos on wireless audio devices such as Google Home and Chromecast Audio.

The case is part of a widespread intellectual property dispute between former business partners that includes lawsuits in the US, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Sonos has asked the court to provide compensation of 90 million US dollars (Rp1.3 trillion) from Google in the San Francisco case, down from 3 billion US dollars (Rp44.1 trillion) after US District Judge William Alsup narrowed the case, according to Google court documents. Sonos claims that Google violated two of its patents related to multi-room wireless audio.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said the case was linked to "some very specific features that are not commonly used," and that Sonos "fake our partnerships and technologies."

Sonos declined to comment on the dispute. The companies previously worked together to integrate Google's streaming music services into Sonos products.

Sonos first sued Google for patent infringement in Los Angeles and at the US International Trade Commission in 2020, on charges that the tech giant imitated its technology during their cooperation.

Sonos won a limited import ban on some Google devices from ITC last year, which Google is suing for an appeal. Google has filed its own patent lawsuit in California and at ITC.

Alsup has made sharp comments to the two companies. Last month, he called their attacks on expert testimony to each other "symbolic to the worst in patent litigation" with "a lot of ink that sticks for a bit of purpose."

In an order in 2020, he cited "very large resources" that had been issued in the dispute.

"In the end, our legal bills may have been able to build dozens of schools, pay all teachers, and provide warm lunch for children," the judge wrote.