Google to Pay $338.7 Million in Damages Over Chromecast Patent Case, Rules US Jury

Alphabet‘s Google violated a software developer’s patent rights with its remote-streaming technology and must pay $338.7 million (nearly Rs. 2,770 crore) in damages, a federal jury in Waco, Texas decided on Friday.

The jury found that Google’s Chromecast and other devices infringe patents owned by Touchstream Technologies related to streaming videos from one screen to another, a court representative said on Monday.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said on Monday that the company will appeal the verdict and has “always developed technology independently and competed on the merits of our ideas.”

Attorneys for New York-based Touchstream did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Touchstream, which also does business as Shodogg, said in its 2021 lawsuit that founder David Strober invented technology in 2010 to “move” videos from a small device like a smartphone to a larger device like a television.

According to the complaint, Google met with Touchstream about its technology in December 2011 but said it was not interested two months later. Google introduced its Chromecast media-streaming devices in 2013.

Touchstream said that Google’s Chromecast copied its innovations and infringed three of its patents. It also said its patents were infringed by Google’s Home and Nest smart speakers and third-party televisions and speakers with Chromecast capabilities.

Google denied infringing Touchstream’s rights and argued that the patents are invalid.

Touchstream filed similar complaints against cable providers Comcast, Charter and Altice in Texas earlier this year. Those cases are still pending.

© Thomson Reuters 2023


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Samsung, Google Team Up to Offer Support for Each Other’s Smart Home Ecosystems With Matter Bridge

Samsung and Google have announced that they will offer support for each other’s smart home ecosystems, the South Korean company announced on Thursday. Over the years, even though smart devices have gained traction, there exist compatibility issues between brands that ultimately cause headaches for users. The Matter protocol is aimed at making it easier to control a smart home that has a mix of devices from different makers, and a major step forward towards that goal has now been announced.

In order to resolve compatibility problems, Samsung and Google have agreed to build a bridge between SmartThings and Google Home devices, according to an announcement by Samsung on Thursday. The bridge is built on Matter’s multi-admin feature, which allows different apps to connect to one or more devices and control them.

This means that a device set up in Google Home will also appear in the SmartThings app and vice versa, so users no longer have to remember which app controls the lights and which controls the smart speakers, as per a report by GSMArena.

This will also free users up to buy the smart device they want rather than looking for one that uses the same app/ecosystem as the rest of their smart home.

As long as a device supports the Matter protocol, users will be able to control and automate it with either Samsung’s SmartThings or Google’s Home, whichever app they prefer. Google and Samsung are not the only supporters of Matter as the list includes Amazon, Ikea, LG, Midea, Tuya and several others, as per the report.


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