Google filed two new lawsuits on Monday (local time) alleging Sonos infringed another seven patents. This includes, among other things, technologies that regulate how networked devices with language assistants handle the wake word and wireless charging of batteries.
Sonos won the patent process at the US Trade Commission ITC earlier this year. This had consequences for the operation of Google’s speakers. For example, users of a group consisting of several networked speakers have to change the volume of each one individually rather than changing the volume of them all together.
In the new lawsuits, Google, among other things, points to the fact that Sonos brought its own voice assistant to control the music on its devices. Google Assistant has been available on Sonos speakers since 2019.
Sonos’ chief legal officer, Eddie Lazarus, accused Google of using “scare tactics” in a statement on the Protocol website, among other things. Sonos pioneered the use of networked speakers in different rooms of the family and cites corresponding patents in the dispute.
Alphabet Nasdaq shares closed 0.54 percent lower at $117.50, while Sonos shares fell 4.14 percent to $21.99.
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