Google To Pay Sonos Whopping $32.5 Million Over Patent Infringement Lawsuit

Last year, the US International Trade Commission sided with Sonos in its lawsuit against Google, ruling that the latter had infringed on five of its patents, including one that allowed wireless speakers to “communicate” with one another.

Now, a jury has ruled that the technology giant will have to shell out a whopping US$32.5 million as payment to Sonos over the alleged violation of patents. It appears the long drawn-out lawsuit, which began in 2020, could finally be over.

According to AppleInsider, the ruling found that Sonos was able to prove Google had violated several patents, the first being the ‘885 patent’ related to simultaneous multi-room audio.

The second patent, dubbed ‘966’, involved using smartphones to control other devices. In this instance, the jury ruled that while Google was not able to prove the invalidity of the five patent claims, Sonos could not prove the alleged violation.

As per the publication, the previous decisions had determined that the company’s older products were in violation of the patents in question, with this lawsuit taking on the task of assessing newer products instead.

Overall, Google was ordered to pay a royalty of US$2.30 per unit to Sonos, and with 14 million products sold, the former finds itself having to fork out over US$32,000,000 for its costly mistakes.

A Google spokesperson emphasized that the lawsuit was a “narrow dispute” about features that were “not commonly used.” Sonos, on the other hand, claimed the ruling “re-affirms that Google is a serial infringer” of its patent portfolio. 

[via AppleInsider and Reuters, cover image via Info849943 | Dreamstime.com]