Google, Sonos Head to Trial in Contentious Good Speaker Patent Combat
(Reuters) – Sonos Inc and Alphabet’s Google LLC will face off in a San Francisco federal trial on Monday over claims that Google copied Sonos’ patented smart-speaker expertise in wi-fi audio gadgets like Google Dwelling and Chromecast Audio.
The case is a part of a sprawling mental property dispute between the previous enterprise companions that features different lawsuits within the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Sonos has requested the court docket for $90 million in damages from Google within the San Francisco case, down from $3 billion after U.S. District Choose William Alsup narrowed the case, in response to a Google court docket submitting. Sonos alleges Google infringed two of its patents associated to multi-room wi-fi audio.
Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda stated the case pertains to “some very particular options that aren’t generally used,” and that Sonos “mischaracterized our partnership and expertise.”
Sonos declined to touch upon the dispute.
The businesses beforehand labored collectively to combine Google’s streaming music service into Sonos merchandise. Sonos first sued Google for patent infringement in Los Angeles and on the U.S. Worldwide Commerce Fee in 2020, accusing the tech big of copying its expertise throughout their collaboration.
Sonos gained a restricted import ban on some Google gadgets from the ITC final yr, which Google has appealed. Google has countered with its personal patent lawsuits in California and on the ITC.
Alsup has had sharp phrases for each firms. Final month, he known as their assaults on each other’s skilled testimony “emblematic of the worst of patent litigation” with “a lot ink spilled for little function.”
In a 2020 order, he cited the “monumental” sources already expended on the dispute.
“By the top, our events’ authorized payments will probably have been capable of construct dozens of colleges, pay all of the lecturers, and supply scorching lunches to the youngsters,” the choose wrote.
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Enhancing by David Bario and Josie Kao)
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