” If you take a look at the history of Sonos, were very unwilling to sue,” states Lazarus. “This is a choice of last resort– the variety of litigations weve started, you can depend on one hand.”.
Google, of course, says it will resist; it has countersued Sonos in the initial case. “Sonos has made deceptive statements about our history of collaborating,” says Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda. “Our technology and gadgets were created separately. We deny their claims vigorously, and will be preventing them.”
Sonos has actually filed another patent suit versus Google, alleging that the search giant is infringing 5 cordless audio patents throughout the entire line of Nest and Chromecast items. The move comes on the eve of Googles fall hardware occasion on September 30th, where it is expected to reveal a new Chromecast and Nest smart speaker alongside brand-new Pixel phones.
” If they seek to challenge the patents on obviousness premises, we believe we will win,” he says. Lazarus states Sonos has actually presented Amazon with comparable patent claims and hopes to fix them. Of course, another lawsuit will further strain the relationship between Google and Sonos, which supports the Google Assistant on its speakers, but Sonos has attempted to keep the legal fight out of item conversations.
Naturally, another suit will further strain the relationship between Google and Sonos, which supports the Google Assistant on its speakers, but Sonos has tried to keep the legal fight out of item discussions. “The goal is to have a positive relationship with Google, one in which they acknowledge the worth of our creations and we work on consumer-friendly developments in the future,” states Lazarus. “Weve attempted to keep the 2 sides of your home separate.”.
Sonos submitted its very first patent suits versus Google in January in California federal court and with the International Trade Commission; the federal case has been put on hold while the ITC reaches a decision on whether to block Googles allegedly infringing products from market. The brand-new case is filed only in the federal court for the Western District of Texas– an emerging patent lawsuit hotspot– and represents a more aggressive method from Sonos.
” Efficient infringement is a very huge problem,” says Lazarus. “Thats why we went to the ITC and now Texas– to get and reduce the procedure resolution as rapidly as possible.” (To be clear, “short” is a relative term in patent law– Lazarus estimates this brand-new case will take two years.).
” We believe its essential to show the depth and breadth of Googles copying,” says Eddie Lazarus, Sonos chief legal officer. “We revealed them claim charts on 100 patents that we declared they were infringing, all to no obtain.”
Sonos has actually long been singing about the power of big platform companies like Google to boss around smaller business. In particular, Sonos alleges the tech giants consistently copy technology due to the fact that the penalties are so low compared to the advantages of flooding the market with inexpensive loss-leader products and gaining market share. CEO Patrick Spence affirmed to the House antitrust subcommittee previously this year about whats called “effective violation”– and this new case is a reflection of how strongly the business believes it needs to be cut.
Google, of course, says it will combat back; it has actually countersued Sonos in the preliminary case. (To be clear, “brief” is a relative term in patent law– Lazarus approximates this new case will take two years.).
The patents in Sonos first claim covered the structures of cordless audio systems: setup, playing in sync, developing stereo pairs. Sonos is particularly positive in those patents because its formerly taken legal action against Denon for infringing them and won– Lazarus calls them “battle-tested.”.
” If they look for to challenge the patents on obviousness premises, we believe we will win,” he says. “We believe that most people associated with wireless home audio today infringe on our patents in one way or the other.” Lazarus says Sonos has actually provided Amazon with comparable patent claims and wants to resolve them. “We led our time. These technologies werent prevalent when Sonos developed them.”.
The patents in the brand-new case are more current– among them was issued just two weeks earlier, although it covers work started in 2011– and associate with more modern wireless speaker system functions, like managing streaming music from a secondary gadget like a phone, automatic speaker EQ, and speaker group management and “zone scene” presets. A lot of them appear like patents on the basics of clever speaker control– setting the volume on a speaker from your phone, for example– however Lazarus states hes not stressed over Google challenging them.
