Google wins reprieve from $32.5 mln verdict in Sonos patent fight

Sonos

09/10/2023 17:36

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      Sonos patent underlying jury verdict is invalid, judge
says
    

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      Judge said patent used to 'enrich a pretender' by 'sleight
of
hand'
    

  
    By Blake Brittain
       Oct 9 (Reuters) - A California federal judge has thrown
out a $32.5 million verdict for wireless-audio company Sonos
 SONO.O  against rival Google  GOOGL.O  after finding that the
Sonos patents at the heart of the case were unenforceable.
        U.S. District Judge William Alsup said on Friday that
Sonos had improperly tried to connect its patents for multi-room
audio technology to a 2006 application to claim that its
inventions predated Google's devices. 
    "This was not a case of an inventor leading the industry to
something new," Alsup said. "This was a case of the industry
leading with something new and, only then, an inventor coming
out of the woodwork to say that he had come up with the idea
first."
    A Sonos spokesperson said on Monday that the ruling was
"wrong on both the facts and law" and that the company would
appeal. Representatives for Google did not immediately respond
to a request for comment on the decision on Monday.
    The case is part of a sprawling intellectual property
dispute between the former collaborators that includes other
lawsuits in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and the
Netherlands. 
    Sonos also won a limited import ban on some Google devices
from the U.S. International Trade Commission last year based on
different Sonos patents, which Google has appealed. Google has
countered with its own patent lawsuits in California and at the
ITC.
    The companies previously worked together to integrate
Mountain View, California-based Google's streaming music service
into Sonos products. Sonos first sued Google in 2020, accusing
the tech giant of copying its technology in wireless audio
devices including Google Home and Chromecast Audio.
    Sonos won $32.5 million in damages from Google in San
Francisco in May after a federal jury found that Google's
devices infringed one of the company's patents. Google asked
Alsup to toss the verdict on several grounds, including that
Sonos strategically held off on applying for the patents for
more than a decade until the tech giant had introduced its
allegedly infringing devices. 
    Alsup agreed with Google on Friday that Sonos had connected
its 2019 patent applications to an application from 2006 to
receive artificially early priority dates. Google began selling
its competing devices in 2015, and the judge said Google's
products "anticipated" the 2019 patents and made them invalid.
    
    The case is Sonos Inc v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for
the Northern District of California, No. 3:20-cv-06754.
    For Google: Sean Pak of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
    For Sonos: Clement Roberts of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
    
    Read more:
    US jury says Google owes Sonos $32.5 million in
smart-speaker patent case
    Google, Sonos head to trial in contentious smart speaker
patent fight

 (Reporting by Blake Brittain)
 ((blake.brittain@tr.com; +1 (202) 938-5713;))