What you need to know
- Touchstream allegedly made the ability to share screens from smartphones to smart TVs before Google released Chromecasts.
- The company claims the technology was patented in 2010.
- Google released the Chromecasts in 2013, apparently infringing Touchstream's patents.
- Google denies claims and is ready to appeal the jury's decision.
Google has apparently violated a software developer's patents related to remote streaming technology, and now the search giant has been ordered to pay $338.7 million in damages, according to Reuters.
On Friday, the verdict came from a federal Jury in Waco, Texas. The lawsuit dates back to 2021, filed by Touchstream, a New York-based company alleging that its founder David Strober invented a technology in 2010 that allows videos to move from smartphones to larger smart TVs, which is basically what Google's Chromecast does.
The search giant introduced Chromecast streaming devices in 2013 after reportedly expressing "no interest" in Touchstream's technology in 2011. According to Touchstream's complaint, Google's products seemingly infringe on at least three of the company's patents.
According to Touchstream, this expands beyond the original Chromecast and includes Google devices like Home and Next speakers as well as other smart TVs that now have built-in Chromecast capabilities.
However, it's not just Google that the company is targeting, as Touchstream seems to have raised identical complaints with Comcast, Charter, and Altice, the cable providers in Texas in 2023, which are said to be pending.
As for this case, the jury ruled in favor of Touchstream and found Google's Chromecast and other search giant devices infringing patents of Touchstream Technologies.
However, Google spokesperson Jose Castañeda said the search giant would appeal the decision since it has "always developed technology independently and competed on the merits of our ideas." According to Reuters, Google had also denied that Touchstream's rights had been violated and claimed that the patents were invalid.
This isn't the only time this year Google has been ordered to pay up for patent infringement. Earlier this year, a court ruled in favor of Sonos following a long-time dispute over patents held by the audio company. Google was ordered to pay $32.5 million for infringing on one of Sonos' patents.
