Sonos sues Google for infringing on five more speaker patents

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Just one day before Google's Pixel 5 reveal, Sonos has filed a new lawsuit against the search giant, alleging it has infringed five more patents. The patents cover technologies that form the basis of some of Sonos' best-known features, including its Trueplay tuning tool.

The new lawsuit is the latest development in the ongoing legal spat between Sonos and Google. Sonos first sued Google at the start of 2020. It alleged at the time that the company had violated five of its speaker patents, including one that details a technology that allows wireless speakers to sync with one another. In June, Google countersued Sonos, claiming the speaker company had been using its search, software, networking and audio processing technologies without paying a licensing fee.“While Google rarely sues other companies for patent infringement, it must assert its intellectual property rights here,” Google wrote in the complaint.

“Google has chosen to double down on its disregard for IP and smaller American inventors and we believe it is vitally important that Sonos, both for its own sake and for that of other smaller innovative companies, stand up to monopolists who try to copy and subsidize their way to further domination,” a Sonos spokesperson said.

The timing isn't ideal for Google for a handful of reasons. At tomorrow's Pixel 5 event, the company will likely announce a new Nest-branded smart speaker. Google also finds itself at the center of antitrust investigations in the US and EU. A second lawsuit may add merit to those investigations.

Sonos sues Google for infringing on five more speaker patents originally appeared on Engadget.com