Speaker specialist Sonos has won a stage victory in its patent dispute with Google. A judge at the U.S. ITC concluded that the Internet company infringed five patents held by the hi-fi company. The ITC can prohibit the import of goods into the USA in the event of patent infringement.
The judge’s preliminary ruling, released Friday, still comes before the full commission for review. The deadline for a decision is 13 December. December.
Sonos is targeting various Google devices such as Pixel smartphones and Nest connected speakers in the lawsuit filed in early 2020. The patents cover technologies such as audio synchronization, volume control and Wi-Fi connectivity. Since most of the devices are manufactured in Asia, an import ban by the ITC stopped the sale of the technology in the U.S.
Google holds against it
While Sonos buried the judge’s conclusions, Google holds against it. "We do not use Sonos technology", a Google spokesman told Bloomberg financial services.
Sonos extended the patent dispute to other countries, obtaining a temporary injunction in Germany against the sale of some Google devices. The Internet company appealed the decision.
In the ITS trial, Google had stressed that it had technologies that did not infringe the patents cited by Sonos, and asked the judges for an opinion on the matter. At the same time, Google filed a counterclaim in the U.S. also alleging patent infringement.
Sonos is a pioneer in networked speakers and specializes in sound systems for different rooms in a home.