Google accused of stealing technology for smart speakers

American audio equipment manufacturer Sonos has filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing him of unlawful use of intellectual property. According to company representatives, their former business partner stole five patented technologies, including a system allowing “smart” speakers to connect to and synchronize with each other.

Lawsuits were filed in two Federal district courts of the United States, writes The New York Times. In addition to compensation for financial loss in Sonos demanded to impose a ban on the sale of smart speakers, smartphones and laptops Google throughout the United States.

the Company started to operate in 2013, when Google announced the launch of its music service, which you can listen to “smart” speakers Sonos. Handing the search engine the drawings of their devices, lawyers say, believed in Sonos Google Internet company and do not assume that it will start to produce its own column.

Subsequently, the smart dynamics released by Google and Amazon, by undermining market prices – now these two companies a few months to sell as many devices as Sonos for the year. The company has a claim to Amazon, however there are not willing to litigate in parallel with the two technology giants.

Google said that discuss the use of technology Sonos
for several years, and expressed regret that the company decided to go to court. Amazon representatives also rejected the accusations, saying that the line of smart speaker Echo was developed by them independently.

According to Strategy Analytics, for the third quarter of 2019 Amazon put 10.5 million “smart” speakers, and Google is 6 million. Sonos, according to its own statistics, has shipped 6.1 million units over the 12 months ending in September.

Text: To.Hi-tech