Google sues Sonos in escalation of wireless speakers fight

Google escalated a fight with Sonos Inc over the wireless home-speaker market, filing a lawsuit that alleges patent infringement.

The conflict between the two companies, which had been collaborating on incorporating some Google features in Sonos’s speakers, erupted in January when Sonos sued Google for infringing its patents. The speaker maker is facing increased competition from tech giants such as Google and Amazon.com Inc that are expanding into selling Internet-connected home gadgets, including less expensive wireless speakers.

“Sonos has made false claims about the companies’ shared work and Google’s technology in the lawsuits,” the Alphabet Inc unit said in a complaint filed Thursday in San Francisco federal court. “While Google rarely sues other companies for patent infringement, it must assert its intellectual property rights here.”