Amazon’s devices and services boss Dave Limp has given an interview to The Verge addressing Sonos’ claims.
“I’m confident that we did not infringe on their IP,” Limp flatly told The Verge. “We built our solutions from a clean sheet of paper. We were the first person out with a connected, voice-enabled speaker. And that was done from a clean sheet of paper. So I’m as confident as I can be.”
Sonos executives said that in collaborating with Amazon and Google, they provided details on their technology that the tech giants used when they entered the smart speaker space themselves. Sonos’ case focuses largely on multi-room music playback, claiming Google violated five of the speaker company’s patents.
Though Amazon isn’t named in the complaint, the breaking New York Times story made it clear that Sonos believes both companies are culpable. Limp dismissed the claim.
“As it relates to the multi-room audio, our implementation is very different than Sonos’ implementation,” he said.
Despite the lawsuit, Limp was keen to stress the positive aspects of Amazon and Sonos’ relationship.
“I would say our relationship with Sonos is incredibly valuable…we have tried to be a great partner to them to enable them to integrate with Alexa and then also sell their devices,” Limp said.
Sonos is less interested in playing nice. Executives told the New York Times that they believe both Google and Amazon’s smart speakers violate Sonos’ patents, but the company decided that it couldn’t take both of them on at once. Sonos chose to focus on Google, accusing the search giant of patent infringement in lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco and the U.S. International Trade Commission.
