A US court has overturned a previous verdict in which Google was directed to pay a $32.5 million fine for infringing upon a patent held by Sonos, stating that the wireless audio company’s patents involved in the case were unenforceable.
US District Judge William Alsup has ruled that Sonos had inappropriately sought to link its multi-room audio technology patents to a 2006 application. Sonos had argued that its invention of synchronizing speakers to play audio collectively preceded Google’s devices.
The judge stated, “This was not a case where an inventor led the industry to something new. Instead, this was a situation where the industry pioneered something new, and only afterward did an inventor come forward to assert that they had come up with the idea first.”
Sonos is planning to appeal the decision, with a company spokesperson asserting that the ruling was “wrong both in terms of facts and the law.”
In addition to the fine, Sonos had previously secured a limited import ban on certain Google devices from the US International Trade Commission due to different Sonos patents. As a result, Google had to eliminate certain features from its lineup of smart speakers and displays. However, Google appealed this decision and filed its own patent lawsuits in California and with the ITC.
The legal dispute between Sonos and Google began in 2020 when Sonos accused Google of copying its patented multi-room audio technology. Interestingly, prior to the dispute, the two firms had been partners, collaborating in 2013. Although Sonos had previously brought four other patent infringement cases against Google, those cases were dismissed.
