Google threatens to stop imports of its devices into the USA
Sonos loudspeaker Roam. (Photo: t3n)
A year and a half after filing a lawsuit against Google for patent infringement, Sonos has achieved a stage win. Google threatens to stop imports of its devices into the USA.
The legal battle between Sonos and Google has been smoldering since the beginning of 2020, when the loudspeaker provider accused the search engine company of infringing patents in five cases. Specifically, it is about the technology for networking and synchronizing loudspeakers. Google rejected the allegations and, in turn, sued Sonos. In Germany, Sonos obtained an injunction against Google in May. Now the Internet company is threatened with an import ban in the USA.
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Richter sees violation of Sonos patents
Because a judge from the US trade authority ITC confirmed the allegations that Google infringed five Sonos patents on Friday. It could take months before the import ban, which is said to affect various Google devices such as the Pixel 4a smartphone and the networked speaker Nest Audio and the Youtube Music app, comes into force. First of all, the decision of the individual ITC judge still has to withstand an examination of the entire commission of the authority.
The judges of the commission now have until December 13th for this decision, like Golem writes. Then US President Joe Biden will have the opportunity to object to a possible import ban. Another two months are planned for this. That means that Google’s holiday shopping season would not be threatened. In autumn 2021, the new generation of smartphones from the manufacturer, the Pixel 6, is expected to hit the market.
Google has contradicted the decision of the ITC judge via Bloomberg. The group does not use Sonos technology, according to a Google spokesman. Sonos, on the other hand, welcomed the decision. And the stockbrokers, too, reacted with satisfaction. The price of the Sonos share climbed after the market closed on Friday evening to Sunday evening by a good twelve percent to 42.80 US dollars.
