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OAKLAND, California — Google infringed on audio technology patents owned by speaker manufacturer Sonos, and a trade court ruled Thursday that Sonos is not allowed to import products that infringe its intellectual property into the United States.
The United States International Trade Commission, the quasi-judicial body that decides commercial cases and can block the import of goods that infringe on patents, made its final decision Thursday, closing a two-year investigation into the intellectual property dispute.
The matter will now go to the presidential review. The Commission determined that Google violated the Tariff Act of 1930, which aims to prevent unfair competition through actions such as importing products that violate US patents, trademarks or copyrights. The commission also issued a cease and desist order against Google.
The final decision follows a preliminary finding by a commission judge in August that Google is infringing on Sonos’ patented speaker technology and should not be allowed to import products that infringe Sonos’ intellectual property. After this initial decision, the entire commission met to consider whether to accept this decision.
Sonos had asked the trade commission to block the import of Google products, which the speaker said violated the company’s patents. These include Google Home smart speakers, Pixel phones and computers, and Google’s Chromecast streaming video device. These products are made in China and shipped to the United States.
With tech conglomerates under the scrutiny of regulators and politicians, smaller competitors are challenging the business practices of the industry’s biggest companies in court. Epic Games, creator of the popular Fortnite game, sued Apple and Google via App Store commissions. Facebook has now been renamed to Meta, The lawsuit was filed in November. By a now-defunct photo-sharing app called Phhhoto, which claims it violates Facebook’s antitrust laws.
Sonos claimed to have shared details of its technology with Google beginning in 2013, when the two companies began working together. Initially, Google wasn’t a competitor, but the company began moving into Sonos’ space, first with a small device for streaming music in 2015 and then the Google Home speaker in 2016.
Sonos said it infringed on Google’s more than 100 patents and offered Google a licensing agreement. The two companies were unable to reach an agreement.
Also on Sonos two pending patent infringement lawsuits against Google in federal court. The initial lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in January 2020, was held pending the International Trade Commission’s decision as it contained conflicting patents. A second lawsuit involving a different set of patents is pending in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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