Unenforceable patents see Google victorious over $32.5 million verdict

Published October 10, 2023

It has been found that Sonos had improperly attempted to connect its 2006 patents for wireless, multi-room audio technology as a predate to Google’s devices. The $32.5 million case, brought before a California federal judge, has been thrown out with Sonos’ patents deemed as unenforceable against Google’s technology.

Tech giant Google had originally collaborated with Sonos to stream their music and services through Sonos’ speakers. The first suit came in 2020 when Sonos sued Google for copying technology in their wireless audio systems including the popular Google Home.

In May, Sonos won $32.5 million in damages after a San Francisco federal jury found Google had infringed on Sonos’ devices.

This brings us to the present case, Sonos Inc v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:20-cv-06754, in which Google asked U.S. District Judge William Alsup to throw out the case on many grounds, leaning on the fact that Sonos failed to file for patents to protect their devices for a decade by which time Google had already released their allegedly infringing devices.

The case is part of an ongoing intellectual property feud between the two previous collaborators across multiple jurisdictions. Sonos is not in agreement with this verdict, we can expect to see an appeal in the near future.

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