A small win against Google has failed to lift Sonos shares that are down 31.5% this month, the case was described as “boring” with the judge annoyed that the two tech Companies could not reach a settlement.
The share value of Sonos hardly moved after a US Court ordered Google to pay Sonos $32.5 million for infringing on the company’s smart speaker patent.
Struggling to grow share in the networked speaker market, and with their small soundbar failing to deliver the growth expected in Australia, the small payout, failed to make a dent in the share value following the court’s decision, in a fight that kicked off in 2020 when Sonos accused Google of copying its patented multiroom audio technology after the companies partnered in 2013.
“This is a narrow dispute about some very specific features that are not commonly used,” Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels claimed in a statement to US media.
“Of the six patents Sonos originally asserted, only one was found to be infringed, and the rest were dismissed as invalid or not infringed. We have always developed technology independently and competed on the merit of our ideas. We are considering our next steps.” he said in a statement to US media.
The loss has seen a small number of Google speakers compromised with some features removed from the line-up of smart speakers and smart displays.
The jury in the case also decided that Google’s Home app didn’t infringe on a separate patent filed by Sonos.
The judge also stepped in by instructing jurors to “disregard a $90 million damages estimate from a Sonos expert witness, claiming that he had decided that some of the evidence provided was inadmissible,”
“We are deeply grateful for the jury’s time and diligence in upholding the validity of our patents and recognizing the value of Sonos’s invention of zone scenes,” Eddie Lazarus, Sonos’ chief legal officer and CFO, says in a statement issued to US media.
“We believe Google infringes more than 200 Sonos patents and today’s damages award, based on one important piece of our portfolio, demonstrates the exceptional value of our intellectual property. Our goal remains for Google to pay us a fair royalty for the Sonos inventions it has appropriated.”
Previously both Sonos and Google were subject to blunt criticism from Judge William Alsup, who has presided over many tech company courtroom battles.
Alsup expressed frustration that this case ever went to trial in the first place and the two sides were unable to settle.
He said it was “emblematic of the worst of patent litigation.”
He also noted the technical jargon surrounding the patents at issue, at one point checking with jurors to make sure they hadn’t fallen asleep, according to Law360.