US court allows Google speaker imports in Sonos patent fight

Sonos

08/04/2024 19:58

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      Sonos accused Google products of infringing audio patents
    

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      Appeals court agrees redesigned Google speakers, other
devices
can be imported
    

  
    By Blake Brittain
       April 8 (Reuters) - Redesigned versions of Google's
smart speakers and other devices do not violate Sonos' patent
rights and can be imported into the United States, a U.S.
appeals court affirmed on Monday.
    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a
U.S. trade tribunal's decision that Google's redesigns of
products, including Google Home speakers, Pixel phones and Nest
Hub smart displays, were sufficient to avoid infringing Sonos'
multi-room wireless audio patents.
    The court also affirmed that the original versions of the
devices infringed Sonos' patents. 
    Sonos said in a statement that the ruling confirms that
Google is a "widespread infringer of Sonos's patented inventions
that underlie wireless home audio." 
    Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment
on the decision. 
    Google and Sonos have been embroiled in a sprawling
intellectual property dispute over smart-speaker technology that
has included lawsuits in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and
the Netherlands. The companies previously worked together to
integrate Mountain View, California-based Google's streaming
music service into Sonos products.
    Sonos won a $32.5 million patent-infringement verdict
against Google last year in California federal court, which a
federal judge overturned months later. Google has countered with
its own U.S. patent lawsuits against Sonos. 
    Sonos asked the U.S. International Trade Commission in 2020
to block Google from importing products that it said infringed
its patents. The ITC determined in 2022 that Google violated
five Sonos patents and banned the tech giant from importing
infringing devices, but it also said Google could import
products that it had redesigned to leave out the patented
technology.
    Sonos complained in its appeal to the Federal Circuit that
the decision allowed Google to "continue to import every one of
the accused products." 
    Google asked the appeals court to affirm that the redesigns
did not infringe and reverse the infringement ruling for its
original designs.
    A three-judge Federal Circuit panel rejected both companies'
appeals on Monday, agreeing with Google that its redesigned
products did not infringe and with Sonos that the originals
infringed and its patents were valid.
    
    The case is Sonos Inc v. ITC, U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit, No. 22-1421.
    For Sonos: Joshua Rosenkranz of Orrick Herrington &
Sutcliffe
    For Google: Dan Bagatell of Perkins Coie
    
    Read more:
    Sonos wins Google import ban ruling in U.S. patent fight
    US jury says Google owes Sonos $32.5 million in
smart-speaker patent case
    Google wins reprieve from $32.5 mln verdict in Sonos patent
fight

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