Google Wins Patent Dispute with Sonos and Restores Volume Function

TapTechNews May 22nd news, Google had a patent dispute with Sonos last October, and the relevant patent dispute mainly fell on'simultaneously controlling the volume of a group of smart speakers'. Sonos claimed to own the patent for this function. After that, Google released an update for Android and banned the related volume adjustment function of smart speakers.

But later, a federal judge in California rejected Sonos' claim and announced that Google won the lawsuit, and Google quietly brought back this volume adjustment function in the latest Android 15 Beta 2.1.

TapTechNews learned that Google has been selling GoogleHome products that can'simultaneously adjust the volume of a group of speakers' since 2015, while the Sonos company applied for a patent for this function in 2019. The company tried to link the 2019 patent with an application they made in 2006, artificially adjusting the traceability period of their patented function forward, thereby forcing Google to pay a'settlement fee'.

The judges thought the claim of the Sonos company'should not count'. Judge named WilliamAlsup believed that Sonos tried to link its'multi-room audio technology' patent with the application in 2006, claiming that its invention was earlier than Google's devices.

This is not a case of 'an inventor leading the industry' towards new things, but a case of 'an industry leading new things', and an inventor suddenly pops up when the industry is all moving towards new things and says he thought of this idea first.