Google says Sonos running ‘misleading’ patent campaign

Google (GOOGL) said in a blog post: “Sonos (SONO) has been running a years-long, misleading campaign against helpful features in our Google Home devices and smart speaker devices on spurious patent grounds. On Friday, a federal judge ruled firmly in favor of our products, rejecting two of Sonos’ patents, building on previous rulings that invalidated the asserted claims from another two of Sonos’ patents. The decision shows the weakness of a central plank of Sonos’ campaign. The court stated that Sonos’ patents are both invalid – meaning they never should have been granted in the first place – and unenforceable, and affirmed that we developed the technology first and independently. The court’s decision to dismiss Sonos’ claims wholesale speaks for itself. This decision is good news for our users who will once again be able to seamlessly group and integrate Google smart speakers, and for continued innovation of new features across the industry.”