A Google Home smart speaker; a U.S. trade panel found Google audio speakers and some other devices violated Sonos Inc. patents related to synchronizing audio and Wi-Fi.
Photo: Eric Risberg/Associated Press
Google infringed on audio patents held by Sonos Inc. SONO -0.10% and is barred from importing some of its Nest audio speakers and other violating products, a U.S. trade agency ruled on Thursday.
The U.S. International Trade Commission found that Alphabet Inc. GOOG -0.07% subsidiary Google violated five of Sonos’s patents related to synchronizing audio, adjusting volume and connecting to Wi-Fi.
The court determined that Google should stop import of products that used those patents.
Sonos Chief Legal Officer Eddie Lazarus called it an “across the board win” and called on Google to “pay a fair royalty for the technologies it has misappropriated.”
Google spokesman José Castañeda said the company will appeal the decision. “We will seek further review and continue to defend ourselves against Sonos’s frivolous claims about our partnership and intellectual property,” he said.
This article will be updated.
Write to Tripp Mickle at [email protected]
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