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A woman passes the logo of web search engine provider Google during the digital society festival ‘re:publica’, at Arena Berlin in Berlin, Germany June 9, 2022. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
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WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Friday it would investigate allegations made by Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.O) Google against Sonos (SONO.O) claiming the home audio company infringed Google’s patents by importing certain audio components.
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The agency did not specify which specific products would have been imported in potential violation of US trade law. He said he had not yet made a decision on the merits of the case.
The new complaints add to an ongoing fight between former partners over audio technology and smart speakers, including lawsuits in California, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Sonos won an import ban on certain Google devices from the trade commission in January. Last month, Google filed a lawsuit in federal court in California claiming Sonos’ new voice assistant technology violated several Google patents. Sonos called the lawsuits a “bullying tactic.”
The trade commission said it would set a date to complete its investigation into Google’s latest allegations within 45 days and set an evidentiary hearing.
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Reporting by Chris Gallagher and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis
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