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Sonos ( SONO ) accused Google products of infringing audio patents

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Appeals court agrees redesigned Google speakers, other

devices

can be imported

By Blake Brittain

April 8 (Reuters) - Redesigned versions of Google's

smart speakers and other devices do not violate Sonos' ( SONO ) patent

rights and can be imported into the United States, a U.S.

appeals court affirmed on Monday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a

U.S. trade tribunal's decision that Google's redesigns of

products, including Google Home speakers, Pixel phones and Nest

Hub smart displays, were sufficient to avoid infringing Sonos' ( SONO )

multi-room wireless audio patents.

The court also affirmed that the original versions of the

devices infringed Sonos' ( SONO ) patents.

Sonos ( SONO ) said in a statement that the ruling confirms that

Google is a "widespread infringer of Sonos's ( SONO ) patented inventions

that underlie wireless home audio."

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment

on the decision.

Google and Sonos ( SONO ) have been embroiled in a sprawling

intellectual property dispute over smart-speaker technology that

has included lawsuits in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and

the Netherlands. The companies previously worked together to

integrate Mountain View, California-based Google's streaming

music service into Sonos ( SONO ) products.

Sonos ( SONO ) won a $32.5 million patent-infringement verdict

against Google last year in California federal court, which a

federal judge overturned months later. Google has countered with

its own U.S. patent lawsuits against Sonos ( SONO ).

Sonos ( SONO ) asked the U.S. International Trade Commission in 2020

to block Google from importing products that it said infringed

its patents. The ITC determined in 2022 that Google violated

five Sonos ( SONO ) patents and banned the tech giant from importing

infringing devices, but it also said Google could import

products that it had redesigned to leave out the patented

technology.

Sonos ( SONO ) complained in its appeal to the Federal Circuit that

the decision allowed Google to "continue to import every one of

the accused products."

Google asked the appeals court to affirm that the redesigns

did not infringe and reverse the infringement ruling for its

original designs.

A three-judge Federal Circuit panel rejected both companies'

appeals on Monday, agreeing with Google that its redesigned

products did not infringe and with Sonos ( SONO ) that the originals

infringed and its patents were valid.

The case is Sonos Inc ( SONO ) v. ITC, U.S. Court of Appeals for the

Federal Circuit, No. 22-1421.

For Sonos ( SONO ): Joshua Rosenkranz of Orrick Herrington &

Sutcliffe

For Google: Dan Bagatell of Perkins Coie

Read more:

Sonos ( SONO ) wins Google import ban ruling in U.S. patent fight

US jury says Google owes Sonos ( SONO ) $32.5 million in

smart-speaker patent case

Google wins reprieve from $32.5 mln verdict in Sonos ( SONO ) patent

fight

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)