As Sonos has stated time and time again, our intention with litigation against Google is three-fold: first to defend our groundbreaking patented innovations from misappropriation by our competitor; second, to establish a royalty stream for the use of our inventions; and, third and more broadly, to stand up against bad actors who do not hesitate to copy the inventions of smaller companies and pass them off as their own. There are many innovative businesses who have put their heart and soul into inventing unique products that solve problems for and make the lives of consumers better, who cannot afford to take on a company of Google’s size.
Sonos has been the primary innovator in the wireless home audio category. To date, we have proven that Google — a latecomer — has infringed on our invention of foundational customer experiences including setting up and syncing speakers, as well as other important features like group volume and stereo pairing. Google, for its part, has retaliated against us by claiming we infringe their patents, suing in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Canada and twice in the International Trade Commission. Google has lost every case.
The patent system is in need of reform. But the real problem that needs to be solved is that it allows behemoths like Google to copy the inventions of smaller companies, produce copycat products, and sell them at or below cost by cross-subsidizing them from their monopoly business lines, knowing how hard it is to hold them accountable through litigation.
We remain confident we will continue to prevail in our efforts against Google’s infringement.