One thing about Google killing its products all the time, it still has to pay for patent infringements from that product. That’s the case here with Google Play Music, which apparently infringed Personal Audio playlist patents, and now Google is forced to pay the company $15.1 million, in a verdict from Delaware.
Apparently, Personal Audio LLC argued that Google’s music app which featured playlist downloading, navigation and editing features that did violate its patent rights. The jury in Delaware agreed with Personal Audio LLC, and agreed that Google infringed on the patents willfully. That part is important because it means that the judge could increase the award by up to three times the verdict amount.
Google’s spokesperson Jose Castaneda on Wednesday said that the search giant was disappointed with the verdict and they do plan to appeal the decision. Castaneda does also mention that this verdict concerns a “discontinued product” and it does not affect customers. Google sunsetted Play Music back in 2020, after YouTube Music, fully replaced it.
This isn’t the first time Google infringed on audio patents
A few years ago, Sonos went after Google (and later Amazon), for infringing on its multi-room audio patents. Which Google decided to put into its Google Home and later Nest Audio speakers. Amazon also added this into its Echo smart speakers.
Earlier this month, Google was ordered to pay Sonos $32.5 million for patent infringement, in San Francisco. Sonos had argued that when the two companies were working together on bringing the Google Assistant to its Sonos smart speakers, that Google stole some of its intellectual property and also infringed on its patents. So this was a pretty major case, especially for a fairly small audio company like Sonos.
The lawsuit between Personal Audio LLC and Google first started back in 2015, when the company was requesting $33.1 million in damages.