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posted by janrinok on Tuesday August 17 2021, @06:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the hear!-hear! dept.

Sonos gets early patent victory against Google smart speakers:

Sonos scored an early victory in its case against Google Friday, when the US International Trade Commission ruled that Google infringed five of Sonos' smart speaker patents. The ruling is preliminary and subject to a full ITC review, but it could lead to a ban on Google smart speakers.

In January 2020, Sonos brought a patent infringement case against Google targeting Google's smart speakers, the Google Home, and later the Nest Audio line. Sonos is the originator of Internet-connected speakers that easily hook up to streaming services, while Google speakers combine a similar feature set with voice-activated Google Assistant commands. To hear Sonos tell the story, Google got a behind-the-scenes look at Sonos' hardware in 2013, when Google agreed to build Google Play Music support for Sonos speakers. Sonos claims Google used that access to "blatantly and knowingly" copy Sonos' audio features for the Google Home speaker, which launched in 2016.

However you want to measure it, Sonos is a tiny company compared to the tech giants it regularly battles. The 19-year-old company only has products in the connected speaker market, and it has a $5 billion market cap. Its competitors—Google, Amazon, and Apple—are some of the world's biggest companies, each with a market cap above $1.5 trillion. To make matters more complicated for Sonos, the company relies on both Google and Amazon to do business in search, advertising, and retail sales, and it worried about retaliation from the two giants. Plus, once Amazon and Google entered the market, Sonos was forced to adopt support for both voice assistants in order to compete. Back in 2020, Sonos said Amazon also seemed to be using its technology, but it would focus its legal efforts on Google.


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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by looorg on Tuesday August 17 2021, @07:04PM (7 children)

    by looorg (578) on Tuesday August 17 2021, @07:04PM (#1167930)

    Tomorrows news: Google buys Sonos.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday August 17 2021, @07:15PM (6 children)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 17 2021, @07:15PM (#1167933) Journal

      For pennies on the dollar.

      --
      There can be only one cable TV Network: USABCNNBCBSyFy
      • (Score: 3, Touché) by FatPhil on Tuesday August 17 2021, @07:24PM (5 children)

        by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Tuesday August 17 2021, @07:24PM (#1167939) Homepage
        Who are Sonos? I did a websearch for them and found nothing?
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @12:14AM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @12:14AM (#1168006)

          So I did a web search and their homepage came up right away. They build speakers, that should be enough for you. If you still have trouble then you'd better check a VPN and see what fuckery your ISP is doing!

          • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday August 18 2021, @02:33PM (2 children)

            by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Wednesday August 18 2021, @02:33PM (#1168178) Homepage
            Where's the "-1 Whooosh" moderation option?
            --
            Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @12:45AM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @12:45AM (#1168375)

              Would have been better if you said you did a "google search." It also doesn't make a whole lotta sense, often the namebrand is kept in buyouts.

              • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday August 19 2021, @08:52AM

                by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Thursday August 19 2021, @08:52AM (#1168463) Homepage
                No, I refuse to join the dots for people. The reward comes to those with the adepter brains. Which alas wasn't yours either, as you seem to have overlooked the fact that google, being a search engine, can control the narrative - there's no need for a buyout to take place in order for google to dick with the opposition.
                --
                Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
        • (Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Wednesday August 18 2021, @01:56PM

          by digitalaudiorock (688) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @01:56PM (#1168173) Journal

          Who are Sonos?

          They're a company that makes "speakers" that refuse to work unless you use a smart phone app that connects to their site and tells them everything you play. I'm stunned that anyone buys those things. Someone needs to come out with a competing version of wireless speakers that will work on a network with no internet access, and Goolge sure as shit won't be the ones.

          And maybe I'm old school, but I recall a time when "speakers" and "amplifiers" had fucking physical audio inputs, but I guess they can't allow technology that can't phone home right?

          Also being old school, I'm not ready to ditch stereo...and the good news is that, with those things, you get to buy two for about a grand. Fuck...that.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by progo on Tuesday August 17 2021, @07:26PM (1 child)

    by progo (6356) on Tuesday August 17 2021, @07:26PM (#1167941) Homepage

    So, our telescreens have to pay off patent holders. Orwell would be amused.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 17 2021, @08:41PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 17 2021, @08:41PM (#1167965)

      It pales beside having to import your telescreens from China. That is too absurd for Orwell to ever imagine.

  • (Score: 2) by jelizondo on Tuesday August 17 2021, @10:14PM (1 child)

    by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 17 2021, @10:14PM (#1167983) Journal

    Free market at its best: the guys with the best lawyers get to keep the market!

    Actually, I don’t know why it’s called “free” when lawyers are very expensive :-)

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @04:30PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @04:30PM (#1168206)

      It's called "free" because this is what you get when you let the lawyers run free.

      Think 'libre', not 'gratis'.

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