After its victory in federal court on Friday, Google will be restoring some of the software features it removed because of the Sonos' patent infringement case. The underlying patent was declared invalid by a US judge, thanks to which Google will bring back the functionalities that were removed from multiple products, including Google Home smart speakers and smart displays.
Google, on the Nest community blog, wrote, “In light of this legal decision, we’re happy to share that we will be rolling back this change. Devices will be able to belong to multiple speaker groups, and you will no longer run into an error when trying to add a device to additional groups.” This change also helps Samsung's soundbars that feature Google Cast, as they can now be grouped together with other Google Cast or Google Home devices for simultaneous music playback and controls.
New reports suggest that Google has already started rolling out these changes, and the features will be available to all the eligible products and the Google Home app for Android very soon. However, the features are labeled as ‘coming soon' to the Home app on iOS. Although Sonos has planned to appeal Judge William Alsup's ruling, it is interesting to note that Google is already rolling out the features of its products.
Amidst such battles, it is the consumers that suffer the most. However, thanks to the rapid response, Google is now rolling out the grouping features for the eligible products. Do note that the Google Assistant remains absent from Sonos' most recent smart speakers. In retaliation, Google accused Sonos of “wasting time and resources” with the patent infringement case against them.
