In January of 2020, Sonos filed two lawsuits against Google, claiming that the latter stole its multiroom speaker technology and infringed on 100 patents. In September, the company sued the company for violating five of its wireless audio patents. A judge ruled in favor of the company. The preliminary findings have been finalized by the U.S. International Trade Commission, and now it's worse for the company. The products that are not allowed to be imported by Google include the products that violate patents owned by Sonos.
These products are often made outside of the United States and imported, which is a big deal for the company. The New York Times reports that in the ruling, a cease and desist was served on Google. Cast volume controls were removed from the latest version of the software, but were added back with the January 22nd security patch. There are still two lawsuits pending against the company, meaning that it's unlikely that they will be able to reach an agreement.
