Sonos Smart-Speaker Patent Verdict Against Google Revived (1)

The Federal Circuit rejected Google LLC‘s theory that Sonos Inc. strategically delayed obtaining certain home speaker patents until years after Google began investing in the same type of system in 2014 or 2015.

Google can’t claim to have been prejudiced by any such delay, the appeals court said, reversing a federal judge in California who ended the infringement suit against the tech giant by deeming two Sonos patents unenforceable under the doctrine of “prosecution laches,” a legal principle that can void a patent due to the owner’s unreasonable delay in moving forward on a patent application.

Sonos’ relevant application ...