Google Loses to Sonos on Speaker Patent in Ongoing Tech Fight

An administrative tribunal wiped out parts of a Google LLC patent for wireless sensor communication Thursday amid a wide-ranging intellectual property battle with home speaker competitor Sonos Inc.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board found that all challenged claims in US Patent No. 10,229,586 are obvious in light of prior publications.

In underlying litigation, Google accused Sonos of infringing five patents, including the ‘586 patent, for wireless speaker technology ranging from search, software, networking, audio processing, digital-media management, and streaming, while refusing to pay for licenses to use the technology.

The PTAB agreed last November to review the validity of ...