Court orders Google to pay $32.5 million to Sonos over patent infringement

San Francisco (IANS) | A US court has ordered Google to pay $32.5 million to high-tech audio technology company Sonos for infringing on the company’s smart speaker patent. A San Francisco jury found in the case that Google’s smart speakers and media players infringed on one of Sonos’ two patents.

Jurors said Google would pay $2.30 for each of the more than 14 million devices sold.

In a ruling in January last year, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) said Google infringed on five patents of high-tech speaker and audio technology company Sonos related to smart speakers.

A US judge ruled in August last year that Google had infringed on the Sonos patent.

In January 2020, Sonos previously sued tech giant Google for allegedly copying its wireless speaker design, urging ITC to ban Google products such as laptops, phones and speakers.

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence testified before the US House Antitrust Committee that Google blocked the company from activating both Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant at the same time.

Google had said, we do not expect any impact on our ability to import or sell our products.

Sonos accuses Google of infringing a total of 100 patents.

Google has always maintained that its technology was developed independently and was not copied from Sonos.

The tech giant also sued Sonos, alleging that the company infringed on patents on smart speakers and voice control technology.

–IANS