Google Fined $32.5M For Infringing On Sonos Patent

According to Reuters, Sonos has been awarded $32.5 million by a court, as Google was found to have violated the company’s smart speaker patent.

On Friday, a jury verdict in a San Francisco courtroom determined that Google’s smart speakers and media players had violated one of two Sonos patents in question.

In 2020, a legal dispute began between Sonos and Google regarding allegations that Google had utilized Sonos’ patented multiroom audio technology, following a previous partnership between the two companies in 2013.

After winning its case at the US International Trade Commission, Sonos was able to impose a limited import ban on some Google devices. Google also had to remove certain features from its smart speakers and displays.

Related: Sonos Faces News US Suit Over Google Patents

In August, Google filed a lawsuit against Sonos, claiming that the audio company had violated Google’s smart speaker and voice control technology. The trial for this case began earlier this month.

“We are deeply grateful for the jury’s time and diligence in upholding the validity of our patents and recognizing the value of Sonos’s invention of zone scenes,” Eddie Lazarus, Sonos’ chief legal officer and CFO, says in a statement to The Verge. “This verdict re-affirms that Google is a serial infringer of our patent portfolio, as the International Trade Commission has already ruled with respect to five other Sonos patents. In all, we believe Google infringes more than 200 Sonos patents and today’s damages award, based on one important piece of our portfolio, demonstrates the exceptional value of our intellectual property. Our goal remains for Google to pay us a fair royalty for the Sonos inventions it has appropriated.”