Google ordered to pay Sonos $32.5 mn over patent infringement

San Francisco, May 27 (IANS) A court in the US has ordered Google to pay $32.5 million to high-tech audio technology company Sonos, for infringing on the company’s smart speaker patent.

The verdict by a San Francisco jury found that Google’s smart speakers and media players infringed on one of two Sonos patents, reports The Verge, citing the court filing.

Jurors said that Google should pay $2.30 for each of the more than 14 million devices sold.

In a ruling in January last year, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) said that Google violated five patents of high-tech speaker and audio technology company Sonos, relating to smart speakers.

A US judge had ruled in August last year that Google infringed upon the Sonos patents.

In January 2020, Sonos first sued tech giant Google for allegedly copying its wireless speaker design, urging the ITC to ban Google products like laptops, phones and speakers.

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence testified before the US House antitrust committee that Google “blocked the company from enabling both Amazon’s Alexa assistant and the Google Assistant from being active at the same time”.

Google had said “we do not expect any impact to our ability to import or sell our products”.

Sonos accused Google of infringing on a total of 100 patents.

Google has always maintained that its technology was developed independently and it was not copied from Sonos.

The tech giant also sued Sonos, alleging that the company infringed on its patents around smart speakers and voice control technology.