A San Francisco federal jury ruled on Friday that Google must pay $32.5 million to Sonos Inc. (SONO.O) for infringing one of its patents in its wireless music gadgets.
Other cases in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, and the Netherlands are part of the former collaborators’ intellectual property dispute.
Google’s streaming music service was previously integrated into Sonos systems. However, Sonos sued Google for patent infringement in Los Angeles and at the U.S. International Trade Commission in 2020, accusing the tech giant of stealing its technology in devices like Google Home and Chromecast Audio.
Sonos secured a temporary import ban on some Google devices from the ITC last year, which Google contested.
Google has sued Sonos in California and the ITC for utilizing its technology in its smart speakers. Google’s litigation, according to Sonos, is an “intimidation tactic” to “grind down a smaller competitor.”
Sonos, situated in Santa Barbara, California, lost roughly 20% of its market worth earlier this month after reducing its revenue projection.
Google violated one of Sonos’ two patents, according to the jury. Google stated in a court filing that Sonos had dropped its damages request from $3 billion to $90 million after U.S. District Judge William Alsup restricted the case.
On Friday, a Google representative called the matter a “narrow dispute about some very specific features that are not commonly used” and said the firm was weighing its options. Google claimed it has “always developed technology independently and competed on the merit of our ideas.”
According to a Sonos representative, the ruling “re-affirms that Google is a serial infringer of our patent portfolio.”
