The patent's in the trial are pretty bad. Half are just about devices synchronize state using a LAN. The other half concern the UI and stuff.<p>Maybe these had a bit of innovation in 2003 but there is nothing substantial. I'm sure some pre-network audio equipment had to synchronize state and audio timing so doing it over the LAN is not (IMO) sufficient for a new patent.<p>In any case, software patents should be very strict and last at most 5 years (which is more like 8 years from application to expiry).
From another article[1] about this lawsuit, the Sonos side comments:<p>> "We believe that most people involved in wireless home audio today infringe on our patents in one way or the other."<p>So, either:<p>- most people are stealing their technology, or<p>- most people have come up with the same solution independently.<p>For some reason the second case seems more likely to me. Unfortunately for the patent law it doesn't matter if you invent something independently - you're still infringing.[2]<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/29/21492671/sonos-google-patents-infringement-lawsuit-wireless-audio" rel="nofollow">https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/29/21492671/sonos-google-pat...</a><p>[2]: <a href="https://www.patentprogress.org/2019/08/23/protecting-inventors-independent-invention-as-a-defense/" rel="nofollow">https://www.patentprogress.org/2019/08/23/protecting-invento...</a>
For anyone interested in this topic, I recommend the book Do Business WITHOUT Intellectual Property by the patent attorney Stephen Kinsella.<p><a href="https://www.stephankinsella.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/kinsella-do-business-without-ip-2014.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.stephankinsella.com/wp-content/uploads/publicati...</a>
I have a pile of Logitech Squeezeboxes running multiroom audio here, and it does all this sync stuff too, with much of that tech originating from 2001-2004.<p>Things were tight between them and Sonos until a Logitech pulled a Logitech and crippled the hardware lineup before killing the brand.<p>I now wonder if these patents had something to do with it.
”a smart speaker company by the name of Sonos initiated a lawsuit against Google”<p>Would have expected it to also say “a search engine company called Google”
How many markets can Google enter and trivially kill?<p>I'm a fan of patent trolls being defeated, but Sonos is not a troll. They're being pushed and cajoled by the famgopolies. Both Apple and Google cloned their product, then Google started to shutter access to Google Play Music / YouTube Music.<p>Google is like a capricious god of ancient Greek mythology. It might seem friendly, but it takes what it wants and leaves dead, ruined corpses by the wayside.