What you should know
– Legal war between Sonos and Google over theft and patent infringement
– Consumer lost key functionality on their devices due to the war
– Google had to make changes to comply with a court order
– Court ruled in Google’s favor for two of the patents in question
– Google will roll back changes made to speaker groups, allowing devices to live in multiple groups
– Sonos plans to appeal the decision and claims they were wronged on both the facts and the law
Full Story
The legal battle between Sonos and Google has been ongoing since 2020, with both companies accusing each other of theft and patent infringement. As a result, there was an import ban on several Google smart home products. Unfortunately, consumers suffered as they lost key functionality on their devices due to this dispute. Google was forced to make changes to comply with a cease and desist court order, which included restrictions on how users could control their smart home devices.
Recently, a federal judge ruled in favor of Google regarding two patents in question. The court stated that Sonos claimed to have come up with the idea first, despite Google sharing plans for a similar product with Sonos back in 2014. Google had introduced its own products practicing the invention in 2015, while Sonos only pursued claims on the invention in 2019.
In response to the legal decision, Google announced that it will be rolling back the changes made to speaker groups. Users will now be able to have devices belong to multiple speaker groups. An update to the Google Home app for Android will be released soon, along with updates for affected units such as Nest speakers, displays, and Chromecast devices.
However, Sonos has expressed disagreement with the court’s decision, stating that they believe it was “wrong on both the facts and the law.” They have announced their intention to appeal. It remains to be seen how this ongoing battle between Google and Sonos will impact consumers in the future.
