Lukasz Kochanek
Update 8:30pm: Adds Sonos comment.
Speaker maker Sonos Inc. (NASDAQ:SONO) fell 2.2% amid a loss in its patent battle with Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL).
A judge ruled that two Sonos (SONO) patents were unenforcable. Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California, according a ruling date Friday.
The latest ruling comes as the same judge vacated a $32.5 million jury ruling in a patent dispute in favor of Sonos (SONO) over Google (GOOGL) after saying there were still unresolved questions in the case.
“By the time these patents issued in 2019 and 2020, the industry had already marched on and put the claimed invention into practice,” Alsup wrote in his ruling.
“This was note a case of an inventor leading the industry to something new,” Alsup wrote. “This was a case of the industry leading with something new and, only then, an inventor coming out of the woodwork to say that they had come up with the first – wringing fresh claims to read on a competitor’s product forn an ancient application.”
Sonos (SONO) said it plans to appeal the ruling.
“Judge Alsup’s ruling invalidating the jury’s verdict is wrong on both the facts and law, and Sonos will appeal,” Sonos said in a statement on Monday. “The same is true of earlier rulings narrowing our case. While an unfortunate result, it does not change the fact that Google is a serial infringer of our patent portfolio, as the International Trade Commission has already ruled with respect to five other patents. In the end, we expect this to be a temporary setback in our efforts to hold Google financially accountable for misappropriating Sonos’s patented inventions.”
Google (GOOGL) didn’t respond to Seeking Alpha email request for comment.
Sonos (SONO) has been battling with Google (GOOGL) over patents for wireless speakers since at least early 2020. Sonos previously accused Google (GOOGL) of stealing its technology to use in Chromecast Audio and Google Home, infringing upon four patents.
