The federal jury in Delaware, USA, announced its verdict on Wednesday that Google must pay $15.1 million to the patent holding company Personal Audio LLC, because Google’s music app, Google Play Music, infringes on two of the company’s patents related to audio software.
Source: Pexels
Personal Audio LLC claimed that Google Play Music’s playlist downloading, navigation and editing features infringed on its patents. The jury also said that Google willfully infringed on those patents, which could lead the judge to triple the amount of the award.
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said the company is disappointed with the verdict and plans to appeal. He said the ruling involved a “discontinued product” and would not affect customers.
A spokesman for Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, the law firm for Personal Audio LLC, said Wednesday that the company is satisfied with the verdict.
Beaumont, Texas-based Personal Audio LLC originally sued Google in 2015 for $33.1 million in damages for patent infringement, before the case was transferred from Texas to Delaware.
The ruling comes less than a month after Google was ordered by a San Francisco jury to pay $32.5 million in patent infringement damages to Sonos in an intellectual property dispute between the two companies over smart speaker technology.
