Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

Google countersues Sonos, adds fuel to intellectual property feud

By

Sonos made quite a splash in January when it sued Google for allegedly stealing its intellectual property. Now, Google is returning the favor.

The tech giant has countersued Sonos, alleging that the whole-house audio company infringed on five different Google patents. These patents include mesh networking, echo cancellation, DRM, content notifications, and personalized search.

Recommended Videos

In its initial lawsuit, Sonos claimed that during the time it had been partnered with Google to bring Google Play Music and Google Assistant to the platform, Google allegedly gathered knowledge about Sonos’ wireless audio system that it then used to create its own line of multiroom speakers.

Google does sell several smart wireless speakers, including the Google Nest Mini, Google Home, and Google Home Max, but Google disputed the claims at the time and told Digital Trends that it “will defend them vigorously.”

Enter Google’s countersuit. In a statement to Digital Trends, Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said that the company is “disappointed that Sonos has made false claims about our work together and technology.”

“We are reluctantly defending ourselves by asserting our patent rights,” Castaneda said. “While we look to resolve our dispute, we will continue to ensure our shared customers have the best experience using our products.”

Google traditionally has shied away from filing lawsuits in the past. For it to take this kind of legal action, especially against a partner like Sonos, is somewhat unprecedented. But according to portions of the complaint shared with Digital Trends, Google believes there’s merit in taking these steps.

“Google is proud of its more than five-year partnership with Sonos and has worked constructively with Sonos to make the companies’ products work seamlessly by building special integrations for Sonos. For instance, when Google rolled out the ability to set a Sonos speaker as the default option for Google Assistant, it was the first time Google had done that for any partner company. Sonos has made false claims about the companies’ shared work and Google’s technology in the lawsuits that Sonos filed against Google earlier this year. While Google rarely sues other companies for patent infringement, it must assert its intellectual property rights here.

“Sonos is actively infringing Google’s intellectual property. Sonos has no license to use Google’s patents. Because Sonos refuses to cease its infringement and is unwilling to recognize the value of Google’s technology through a license, Google has filed this suit to protect its intellectual property.”

Sonos issued this response from Sonos CEO Patrick Spence to Digital Trends:

“Instead of simply addressing the merits of our case, and paying us what we’re owed, Google has chosen to use their size and breadth to try and find areas in which they can retaliate. We look forward to winning our original case, and this newly filed case as well.

“As we saw in the past with Eero, and have seen most recently with Zoom, Google seems to have no shame in copying the innovations of smaller American companies in their attempts to extend their search and advertising monopolies into new categories.

“We’re mostly sad to see a once-innovative company with the mission of “Do No Evil” avoid addressing the fact they’ve infringed on our inventions, and have turned to strong-arm tactics the robber barons of old would have applauded.”

It doesn’t seem like this dispute will have a quick resolution, but the outcome could get messy. If Sonos and Google break their partnership because of these suits, Google’s voice and music services could realistically leave the Sonos platform.

Sonos would still have a solid catalog of other music streaming services without Google Play Music, and Amazon Alexa voice support would remain in the absence of Google Assistant. Essentially, it is highly likely that Sonos would survive without Google as a partner, but its services would be far less accessible for those invested in the Google ecosystem, which would undoubtedly be a damaging blow to all parties involved.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Nick Woodard
Nick Woodard
Former Digital Trends Contributor
  As an A/V Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Nick Woodard covers topics that include 4K HDR TVs, headphones…
Sonos is suing Google for allegedly copying its tech — and Amazon could be next
Sonos Move close-up on logo.

This story is part of our continuing coverage of CES 2020, including tech and gadgets from the showroom floor.

CES is usually a time to get excited about all of the possibilities that new technology can bring to our lives, even if some of it is downright silly. But this year, as Google is prominently celebrating its various technologies amid the endless halls of exhibitors, a storm cloud is gathering, casting a legal shadow over its achievements. Sonos, the whole-home wireless audio company known for its superb line of small but powerful speakers, is suing Google and alleging that the tech giant stole its intellectual property, according to The New York Times.

Read more
You have until June 9 to save $500 off an 85-inch Samsung The Frame TV
A painting being displayed on a Samsung The Frame QLED.

Looking for great TV deals? You still have time to save $500 on the Samsung 85-inch The Frame QLED TV when you head over to Samsung. It usually costs $4,300, but right now the popular and stylish TV is down to $3,800, making it more affordable than before. If you’re keen to invest in a large TV but love to save money too, this is a good opportunity. Here’s what you need to know about the TV before you decide to buy.

Why you should buy the Samsung 85-inch The Frame QLED TV
One of the best QLED TVs around, the Samsung 85-inch The Frame QLED TV is a delight in so many ways. At its core, it’s a fantastic QLED TV with 100% Color Volume with Quantum Dot technology saturating the screen with a billion colors. QLED adds a layer of quantum dots to a TV’s LED backlight with these dots, once exposed to light, emitting their own light with a high level of efficiency to provide great picture quality.

Read more
It’s your last chance to get up to $1,900 off a Samsung OLED TV
The Samsung S90C in a living room environment.

There’s still a little time left to snap up one of the best TV deals available today, with Samsung still selling the 83-inch S90C OLED TV for $3,500 instead of $5,400. The $1,900 discount is a pretty vast one and one that you certainly don’t want to skip. If you’re looking for a great new TV for your large living space, you’re going to love this deal. Let’s take a look at how great the Samsung S90C OLED TV is.

Why you should buy the Samsung 83-inch S90C OLED TV
Samsung makes some of the best TVs around and we’re huge fans of the Samsung 83-inch S90C OLED TV. It has an OLED panel so you get self-lit pixels which can light up independently of each other. That means that you can enjoy the deepest blacks and the brightest colors all on the same scene, ensuring you never miss a detail. The Samsung 83-inch S90C OLED TV uses a Neural Quantum Processor with 4K upscaling so its AI-powered processor can transform whatever you’re watching. There’s also HDR OLED which uses AI deep learning to analyze each scene, detecting areas that need to brighter, darker, or simply richer in color.

Read more