In response to the recent legal showdown with Sonos, Google is swiftly reinstating the features it had previously removed from several products. Following its triumph in the federal court last Friday, Google is reviving the restrictions it placed on speaker groups.
Google had recently adjusted speaker groups for Nest speakers, displays, and Chromecast. With these modifications, specific devices could only be a part of one speaker group at a time within the Google Home app. Google announced on its Nest community blog, “In light of this legal decision, we’re happy to share that we will be rolling back this change. Devices will now be able to belong to multiple speaker groups without any errors when adding a device to additional groups.”
The tech giant has initiated the rollout of these changes and anticipates that all devices, along with the Google Home app for Android, will receive them within the next 48 hours. iOS users will also see these changes on the Home app, though the timeline is slightly ambiguous.
Despite Sonos’ intention to appeal against Judge William Alsup’s decision—which nullified an initial $32.5 million verdict—Google appears assured that this ruling will hold its ground in the foreseeable future.
Google’s prompt action underscores its agility in adapting to legal outcomes. While the appeal process might introduce more twists to this story, for now, users stand to benefit from the enhanced features and improved functionality.
