Wireless-speaker maker Sonos Inc. accused Alphabet Inc.’s Google in a lawsuit on Tuesday of stealing its technology and infringing on its patents, escalating tensions between the once-close partners.
The Wall Street journal reports Sonos is seeking a ban on the sale of Google’s speakers, smartphones and laptops in the U.S., as well as financial compensation, in a suit filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
The relationship between the two companies, which had matched Sonos’ speakers with Google services, has soured as Google built a growing speaker business, challenging Sonos in its own industry.
“Google has been blatantly and knowingly copying our patented technology in creating its audio products,” Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said in a statement Tuesday. While Google remains “an important partner,” the two parties haven't been able to find a solution, he added.
A Google spokesman said the company disputes the claims by Sonos and is “disappointed that Sonos brought these lawsuits instead of continuing negotiations in good faith.”
The suit claimed that Google gained knowledge, as early as 2013, of Sonos’s patented wireless multiroom technology, which allows a listener hear music in different rooms, through a partnership that integrated Google’s music streaming system into Sonos speakers.
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