Google sued Sonos with smart speakers and voice control technology

Google is suing Sonos with two lawsuits alleging the wireless speaker company is infringing on patents surrounding smart speakers and voice control technology. It’s the latest volley in a back-and-forth battle over wireless speakers that has so far involved multiple lawsuits from Sonos, one Google lawsuit and one Sonos ruling over features stripped from Google products.

These new lawsuits allege that they infringe seven more patents. One case focuses on keyword searches and wireless charging, while the other focuses on how a group of speakers decides which one should respond to voice input.

Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said the lawsuit is being filed “to defend our technology and challenge Sonos’ clear and ongoing patent infringement.” “Sonos has launched an aggressive and misleading campaign against our products at the expense of our mutual customers,” Castaneda said.

Both lawsuits are being filed this morning in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Castaneda said Google plans to file similar charges with the U.S. International Trade Commission in the coming days, which would bar any infringing Sonos products from entering the country. Verge.

The legal battle began in 2020 when Sonos sued Google over its multi-room speaker technology. The two companies collaborated years ago to make Google services work on Sonos speakers, and Sonos says it stole its speaker technology to make Google Home and other devices. Months later, Google sued Sonos for infringing several of its patents. Sonos then sued again. Finally, in January — two years after the original lawsuit was filed — the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in Sonos’ favor, finding that Google had infringed on Sonos’ patents.

In response, Google had to adjust some aspects of its products. This includes Google removing the ability to adjust the volume of speakers simultaneously – a very frustrating change for many Google Speaker owners. Today’s lawsuits appear to be an attempt by Google to gain an advantage over Sonos as the two Spar properties.