Tech giants have now penetrated almost every industry and threatened the survival of many small companies.
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Editor’s note: The influence and appetite of technology giants are growing. Because they have a large audience, many small companies must rely on them to attract customers to develop their business, but the technology giants in turn use their huge influence to steal their ideas and customers. As censorship of America’s largest technology company has become more stringent, smaller companies that have endured years of fighting have fought back. Speaker maker Sonos has sued Google for infringing its patents. This was reported by Jack Nicas and Daisuke Wakabayashi of the New York Times. The original title was: Sonos, Squeezed by the Tech Giants, Sues Google
In 2013, Google agreed to design its own music service so that Sonos’ home speakers could easily collaborate with the service, which made Sonos a great success. But because of this, Sonos handed over his speaker blueprint.
Sonos executives say the move should be harmless. Because Google is an Internet company, they don’t make speakers.
But now these executives say they’re too naive.
On Tuesday (January 7, 2020), Sonos filed a lawsuit against Google in two federal court systems, demanding the latter to compensate for financial losses and banning the sale of Google speakers, smartphones and laptops in the United States. Sonos has accused Google of infringing five of its patents, including wireless speaker connection and synchronization technology.
Sonos’s litigation is not limited to patents and Google. Sonos executives said its legal action was forced. The company has become increasingly dependent on Google and Amazon for many years, but the latter has since started to use its influence to squeeze the small company.
Sonos advertises his speakers on Google, andSell on Amazon. It directly builds each other’s music services and voice virtual assistants into its own products. Sonos employees communicate via Gmail and use Amazon’s cloud computing services to conduct their business.
Then Google and Amazon launched their own speakers, cutting prices on Sonos, and according to Sonos executives, the two companies also stole their technology. Speakers sold by Google and Amazon in the past few months have sold Sonos for a year.
Like many companies suppressed by tech giants, Sonos has been complaining in private for years. But in the past few months, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence has decided not to swallow his voice.
Spence said in a statement: “Google has always blatantly and deliberately copied our patented technology. Despite our repeated efforts over the past few years, Google has not shown cooperation with us in seeking a win-win situation Any will to solution. We have no choice but to sue. “
Sonos executives said they decided to sue only Google because they couldn’t risk confronting the two tech giants at once. But Spence has discussed with US congressional staff members his testimony to the House Antitrust Subcommittee, explaining his company’s problems with them.
Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said that Google and Sonos have been discussing the intellectual property rights of the two companies for many years, and “we are disappointed that Sonos has filed a lawsuit instead of continuing negotiations in good faith.”
He added: “We dispute these claims and will work to defend them.”
Amazon spokesperson Natalie Hereth said the company did not infringe Sonos’ technology. “Echo devices and our multiroom music technology were developed independently by Amazon,” she said.
Sonos has filed a lawsuit against Google in the US District Court in Los Angeles and the US International Trade Commission, a quasi-judicial body that rules trade cases and prevents the import of patent-infringing goods. Sonos sued Google for only five patents, but said it believed that Google and Amazon each infringed about 100 patents. Sonos did not say how much it sought.
The growing relationship between Sonos and tech giantsRelationships reflect an increasingly common complaint in the corporate world: As the largest tech companies become indispensable for attracting customers and growing their businesses, they begin to use this influence over small companies to steal them Ideas and customers.
Due to fear of reprisals, those small companies have been patient for many years, but as the review of the largest technology company in the United States has become more stringent, those small companies have gradually become bold and dare to speak .
Dozens of companies have filed suits with regulators and lawmakers in the United States and Europe. Spotify sued Apple for punishing Spotify’s iPhone app because of its increasingly fierce competition with it. Blix, who helped create anonymous email addresses, also recently sued Apple, saying that the iPhone maker copied its technology and then kicked itself out of Apple’s app store. And Elastic, the software it develops runs on Amazon’s cloud platform. Now it has also told Amazon that the latter has its own brand and introduced competitive products. Both Apple and Amazon have denied the counts.
Spence and other Sonos executives said they were extremely distressed about the decision to sue Google, mainly because Google is still the cornerstone of their business. Sonos executives suspect that the pressure they are putting on patents will complicate other aspects of the relationship, although they are not sure.
Soon after Sonos strengthened its requirements for Google to license its technology, Google also began to force Sonos to adhere to stricter Google virtual assistant usage rules. Sonos executives said that the proposed rules include requiring Sonos to provide plan names, designs, and target launch dates for future products 6 months in advance, compared to the original agreement, which was 45 days ahead of time, and these products are direct competition from Google opponent.
Sally Hubbard, former assistant attorney general of the Antitrust Bureau and now working for the think tank Open Markets Institute, said: “The fear of retaliation is a real fear. Any of these companies can be in second place. God killed Sonos. Google can drown Sonos in its own search results. Amazon can drown Sonos in its own search results. It’s hard to find an industry without companies relying on one of the big tech giants. “< / span>
Fifteen years ago, home audio systems usually meant messy cable networks and speakers, and complicated instructions on how to get everything right. In 2005, Sonos was launched, a company that allows sound to travel throughout the house without wires, and can be controlled seamlessly with handheld devices. Its early wide