This week, the drama escalated when Google launched a new lawsuit against Sonos, just months after the unfortunate outcome in which Sonos prevailed and forced Google to remove or modify features for a number of its devices.
HOTWORD DETECTION IS THE TARGET OF GOOGLES’ NEW SONOS LAWSUIT. Google today acknowledged to The Verge that it has launched two additional lawsuits against Sonos, alleging infringement of the search giant’s patents for smart speakers and voice control technology. There are seven patents in contention, and the majority of what Google is pursuing has to do with hotword identification.
One of the two lawsuits targets support for wireless charging and all-encompassing hotword detection. In addition to its own voice assistant in recent months, Sonos has supported both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa in its products throughout the years. The Sonos Roam speaker from the company, which also supports Google Assistant, also allows wireless charging.
The other complaint targets hotword detection, which refers to how a group of smart speakers decides which speaker should respond to a user’s command when there are numerous speakers present.
These actions against Sonos, according to a statement from Google, were brought to defend our technology and contest Sonos’ blatant, ongoing infringement of our patents, somewhat reflecting Sonos’ position when the speaker firm first sued Google.
A Google representative further notes that Sonos launched an aggressive and deceptive campaign against “Google’s” goods, harming our mutual customers.
Google has filed two cases against Sonos in the Northern District of California’s United States District Court, but the corporation also intends to file with the US International Trade Commission in the coming days to ask for an import restriction on Sonos equipment. For Google’s speakers, TVs, and even Pixel smartphones, Sonos made a similar attempt.
SONOS’S SUCCESS CAUSED GOOGLE TO BREAK ITS OWN PRODUCTS Before that, Sonos triumphed in one of its legal battles with Google at the beginning of the year. The US International Trade Commission (ITC) decided that Google had infringed on Sonos patents, but accepted adjustments on Googles side to allow the business to escape an import ban.
To avoid an import prohibition, Google was forced to either pay Sonos or compromise some of its own goods.
Users continue to frequently notice the consequences of the loss within Google’s products some months after the incident, when the dust has settled. Several instances include:
Many of these losses are unlikely to be changed by this current action, but it’s possible that Sonos may face similar difficulties if Google prevails.
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