Google files lawsuits against Sonos for hotword detection, wireless charging, and more

Remember last May when Google was sued by Sonos for “stealing” its speaker technology? Remember how you weren’t able to control speaker group volume on smart devices thanks to that little kerfuffle? Well, guess what? Google is getting revenge on the company by suing them several times over. It’s not exactly revenge (at least not publicly), but it sure does feel like it! It should be noted that the ITC did rule in favor of Sonos on this entire thing recently.

According to The Verge, now that Sonos won its ruling against Google in court earlier this year, the tech giant is now hitting back at the speaker manufacturer with two lawsuits stating that it infringed on 7 of its patents. The first litigation centers on hotword detection and wireless charging, and the second regards group speakers and how it’s determined which one ought to respond to voice commands.

Google states that Sonos “started an aggressive and misleading campaign” against Google’s products, at the expense of customers. As a result, the AI and search company is filing both of the aforementioned lawsuits this morning with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Later on, it will file again with the US International Trade Commission. The end result, if all goes according to plan, is the ban of Sonos products being imported, according to Google spokesperson José Castañeda, whom The Verge had a chance to hear from directly on the matter.

Anyway, we’ll have to wait and see what occurs from all of this, but while the two keep going for each other’s throats, consumers like yourself keep suffering. Let me know in the comments what you think about this new pair of lawsuits and whether you think Google is salty or gaming the system to fight back against the recent ruling against them from two years ago.