The image is from thechorus image on thecdn.vox-cdn.com.
The New York Times reports that the US International Trade Commission ruled in favor of the Sonos patents. The kind of decision that could theoretically force the removal of products from the market that use the technology is what the decision affirming the judge's ruling is.
It's not clear if any specific products from the company will disappear from shelves, but for now it seems unlikely that will happen. The International Trade Commission has already approved workarounds for each of the five patents, so we don't expect any impact to our ability to import or sell our products.
We confirmed in the ITC order that it specifically carves out exceptions for five different redesigns to the products, and Castaneda says that customers will not experience any disruption.
The ability to control a Chromecast's volume was brought back after Android 12 was removed.
One of the workarounds appears to be live, and more are on the way. The ability to control the volume of Chromecast was removed from the operating system in November, with a person believed to be a Google employee saying it was because of a legal issue. One of the patents is about adjusting volume of devices over a local area network. ITC documents show that the volume control feature on some of the Pixel phones was approved for patent by the ITC.
Surprise! The cast volume controls have been re-enabled. The new method enables cast volume controls in a way that doesn't violate the patent, either.
>
Here's the patch that's relevant.
>
January 5, 2022, is the date of the next election.
One of the patents is about setting up a device that can communicate over the network, and the other is about setting up a device that can communicate over the internet. According to the post, some users will need to download a special app to set up some devices on their network, and that you will no longer be able to adjust the volume of an entire speaker group at once.
When we asked which products were affected by the ruling, it sent us a laundry list that included the Pixel phones, home devices, and computers. The ruling states that if the approved workarounds haven't been applied, the networked speaker devices and devices capable of controlling these devices that incorporate the infringe technology are affected.
It is possible that the devices will still be imported and sold, even though Sonos suggests that the devices would be worse as a result. The need to adjust the volume of your speakers is not a big deal.
It is a blow to the image of the hardware business of the company, which has been growing bigger and bigger in the smart home space, including smart speakers, cameras, and prominently in the wi-fi routers, where the company is located.
The full decision can be read below.
Eddie Lazarus is the Chief Legal Officer of Sonos.
The ITC has confirmed that the five Sonos patents are valid and that the five patents are being used by Google. That is an across the board win that is rare in patent cases and shows the strength of the patent portfolio of Sonos and the hollowness of the denials of copying by the internet giant. The set up for controlling home audio systems, the synchronization of multiple speakers, the independent volume control of different speakers, and the stereo pairing of speakers are covered in the patents.
>
The ITC has imposed a ban on imports of products from the US, and it's possible that Google will be able to degrade or eliminate features in a way that circumvents the ban. Even though Google may sacrifice consumer experience in an attempt to circumvent the ban, its products will still be in violation of many of the Sonos patents. Other companies have already paid a fair royalty for the technologies they have misappropriated.
In June 2020, a countersuit was filed against Sonos by Google, and in September 2020, a suit was filed against the company by Google. Lazarus said at the time that it was important to show the depth and breadth of the copying.
According to the claim, Google is preventing it from including multiple voice assistants on its smart speakers.
Update, 9:06PM: Information from Sonos about what devices may be affected, with information about the ITC saying that design changes by the company don't violate any laws, and information about the changes to speaker groups to avoid import bans.
