US jury says Google owes Sonos $32.5 million in smart-speaker patent case (updated)

Sonos

26/05/2023 22:53

(Adds context from case in paragraph 7)
    By Blake Brittain
       May 26 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's  GOOGL.O  Google must
pay $32.5 million in damages for infringing one of smart-speaker
maker Sonos Inc's  SONO.O  patents in its wireless audio
devices, a San Francisco federal jury decided on Friday.
    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.
    The companies previously worked together to integrate
Mountain View, California-based Google's streaming music service
into Sonos products. Sonos first sued Google for patent
infringement in Los Angeles and at the U.S. International Trade
Commission in 2020, accusing the tech giant of copying its
technology during their collaboration in devices including
Google Home and Chromecast Audio.
    Sonos last year won a limited import ban on some Google
devices from the ITC, which Google has appealed. 
    Google has countered with its own patent lawsuits in
California and at the ITC, accusing Sonos of incorporating the
tech company's technology into its smart speakers. Sonos has
called Google's lawsuits an "intimidation tactic" to "grind down
a smaller competitor."
    Santa Barbara, California-based Sonos lost nearly one-fifth
of its market valuation earlier this month after cutting its
revenue forecast.
    The jury found Google infringed one of Sonos' two patents at
issue in the trial. Sonos had previously asked the court for $90
million in damages, a request Google said in a court filing that
Sonos had reduced from $3 billion after U.S. District Judge
William Alsup narrowed the case.
    A Google spokesperson said on Friday the case was a "narrow
dispute about some very specific features that are not commonly
used," and that the company was considering its next steps.
Google also said it has "always developed technology
independently and competed on the merit of our ideas."
    A Sonos spokesperson said the verdict "re-affirms that
Google is a serial infringer of our patent portfolio."

 (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington
Editing by David Bario, Rosalba O'Brien and Matthew Lewis)
 ((blake.brittain@tr.com; +1 (202) 938-5713;))