© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The emblem for Google LLC is seen on the Google Retailer Chelsea in Manhattan, New York Metropolis, U.S., November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
By Blake Brittain
(Reuters) -Alphabet Inc’s Google (NASDAQ:) should pay $32.5 million in damages for infringing one in every of smart-speaker maker Sonos (NASDAQ:) Inc’s patents in its wi-fi audio units, a San Francisco federal jury selected Friday.
The case is a part of a sprawling mental property dispute between the previous collaborators that features different lawsuits within the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
The businesses beforehand labored collectively to combine Mountain View, California-based Google’s streaming music service into Sonos merchandise. Sonos first sued Google for patent infringement in Los Angeles and on the U.S. Worldwide Commerce Fee in 2020, accusing the tech large of copying its expertise throughout their collaboration in units together with Google House and Chromecast Audio.
Sonos final yr received a restricted import ban on some Google units from the ITC, which Google has appealed.
Google has countered with its personal patent lawsuits in California and on the ITC, accusing Sonos of incorporating the tech firm’s expertise into its sensible audio system. Sonos has known as Google’s lawsuits an “intimidation tactic” to “grind down a smaller competitor.”
Santa Barbara, California-based Sonos misplaced almost one-fifth of its market valuation earlier this month after reducing its income forecast.
The jury discovered Google infringed one in every of Sonos’ two patents at problem within the trial. Sonos had beforehand requested the courtroom for $90 million in damages, a request Google mentioned in a courtroom submitting that Sonos had lowered from $3 billion after U.S. District Decide William Alsup narrowed the case.
A Google spokesperson mentioned on Friday the case was a “slender dispute about some very particular options that aren’t generally used,” and that the corporate was contemplating its subsequent steps. Google additionally mentioned it has “all the time developed expertise independently and competed on the advantage of our concepts.”
A Sonos spokesperson mentioned the decision “re-affirms that Google is a serial infringer of our patent portfolio.”
