On Thursday, The United States International Trade Commission, which regulates import law, has determined that Google is owned by Alphabet sound technology patent infringement held by the smart speaker company Sonos, a significant victory for Sonos in the two-year David v. Goliath lawsuit. The commission said Google had infringed on five Sonos patents and issued a “limited exclusion” banning the import of certain audio technologies, controllers and components made by Google.
Google, it’s no surprise to say that they’re not backing down: They plan to appeal and have 60 days to do so before the ITC ruling takes effect. Sonosmeanwhile, there are two patent infringement cases against Google still pending in federal court. “Those two pending lawsuits are important, because the ITC does not have jurisdiction to settle damages,” said Peter Toren, an intellectual property attorney in Washington, DC.
But Google clearly predicted that this could be the result of the ITC review, because in August 2021, the company Presenting a series of product redesigns to ITC judge Charles Bullock, who determined the proposed solutions would Not infringes on Sonos patents. Following yesterday’s ITC ruling, Google shared some of the changes it’s making to its smart speakers.
So how? do Will the ITC ruling, potentially blocking any imports of certain products unless Google complies, affect the product experience? First, the changes Google will roll out apply to Google’s smart speakers and the Nest Hub display. Google hasn’t provided a full list of affected devices, so it’s unclear how this affects or if this affects other Google products, such as Pixel phones or Chromebooks. Are not. According to spokesman Nicol Addison, updates will be rolled out “in the coming days”. And for now, updates are all software-based.
Google says the ability to adjust speaker volume in groups will no longer be available; customers will now need to adjust the volume of each speaker individually. And, “you also won’t be able to change the Speaker Group volume using your phone’s physical volume button,” the company says. Casting functions will also be affected on non-Google smart devices with Chromecast built-in, such as Lenovo or JBL devices, unless the speaker is updated to the latest firmware. And some users will no longer experience automatic software updates on their smart speakers; they will have to download and install the Device Utility app instead. This will “ensure your device is connected to Wi-Fi and receives the most up-to-date software version,” says Google.
These may seem like relatively small changes, but a big part of the appeal of multi-room wireless smart speakers — a market that Sonos helped pioneer again when it first launched 20 years ago — is the ability to synchronize multiple speakers and control them at the same time. Some ease of use features will be removed with these changes.
The ITC ruling could also affect future Google designs. And there could be more changes, depending on the outcome of the federal lawsuits. (One of these, filed in US District Court in Los Angeles, is on hold until the ITC’s decision is finalized, based on New York Times. The other case, which has been filed in US District Court in San Francisco, is underway.)
