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Patent win over Sonos reinstates multiple speaker groups for Google Nest & Chromecast smart speakers

By Johanna Romero

Published: Oct 10, 2023, 1:27 PM

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Patent win over Sonos reinstates multiple speaker groups for Google Nest & Chromecast smart speakers

It's been quite the ride since 2020 when a legal war began between Sonos and Google, claiming theft and patent infringement, resulting in an import ban on a number of Google smart home products including Nest, Chromecast, and Pixel smartphones. Additionally, as the two companies have continued to go back and forth suing each other, the consumer paid the price by losing key functionality on their devices.

One of the changes Google had to implement in order to comply with the cease and desist court order that was placed on the company, was to make changes to the way its smart home devices could be controlled by users. After a software update, Google removed the ability to add Nest speakers, displays, and Chromecast devices to multiple speaker groups, among other software limitations.

Today, in a scathing blog post, Google has provided an update on the ongoing case, adding that last week a federal judge ruled in its favor when it pertains to two of the patents in question. The court wrote the below in its decision:

This was not a case of an inventor leading the industry to something new. This was a case of the industry leading with something new and, only then, an inventor coming out of the woodwork to say that he had come up with the idea first — wringing fresh claims to read on a competitor’s products from an ancient application.

In fact, in 2014, five years before Sonos filed the applications and presented the claims, accused infringer Google LLC shared with Sonos a plan for a product that would practice what would become the claimed invention… Google then began introducing its own products that practiced the invention in 2015. Even so, Sonos waited until 2019 to pursue claims on the invention (and until 2020 to roll out the invention in its own product line).

Devices will now be able to live in multiple speaker groups

Following the announcement of the legal decision, Google swiftly took to its Google Nest Community with a post advising that it will be rolling back the changes made to speaker groups where devices could only belong to one speaker group at a time. Therefore, an update to the Google Home app for Android will be coming in the next 48 hours and soon on iOS. Affected units, such as Nest speakers, displays, and Chromecast devices, will also be updated with this change.

While this is great news for those of us that own Google smart speakers, let's not all celebrate too soon. According to Reuters (via 9to5Google), Sonos has responded to the decision by stating that it was "wrong on both the facts and the law" and that an appeal would follow. Let's hope this war between Google and Sonos doesn't continue to affect us, the consumers.

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Johanna 'Jojo the Techie' is a skilled mobile technology expert with over 15 years of hands-on experience, specializing in the Google ecosystem and Pixel devices. Known for her user-friendly approach, she leverages her vast tech support background to provide accessible and insightful coverage on latest technology trends. As a recognized thought leader and official member of #TeamPixel, Johanna ensures she stays at the forefront of Google services and products, making her a reliable source for all things Pixel and ChromeOS.