Owners of Denon or Marantz products running the HEOS-branded wireless multi-room audio system can breath a little easier that the music platform will continue to live and evolve into the the future.
Sound United, parent company of the Denon and Marantz brands, and multi-room audio giant Sonos reached a settlement announced Friday of multiple intellectual property lawsuits, most centered around the HEOS wireless multi-room music platform.
Sound United is the parent company of home theater audio brands Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, HEOS, Boston Acoustics and ClasséAudio. It acquired the Denon and HEOS brands and assets in March 2017, and along with them on-going entanglement of IP litagation originally filed against former Denon parent D&M Holdings back in 2014.
According to a statement issued by Sound United, the settlement resolves “all patent infringement litigation between the two companies including the upcoming case filed against Sonos by Denon. Terms of the agreement are confidential.”
“Today’s agreement demonstrates our belief in moving the industry forward and removing barriers for both parties to deliver products that delight customers,” stated Kevin Duffy, Sound United CEO. “Our direction with HEOS is unchanged, and we’ll continue providing amazing-sounding solutions globally while furthering our vision of delivering joy to the world through music.”
Sonos, which was the pioneer of wired and wireless multi-room audio technology, back in 2014 sued D&M Holdings, former parent of the Denon and Marantz brands, for intellectual property infringement in three key technologies allegedly used in Denon’s HEOS multi-room audio system.
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In retaliation, HEOS filed a counter suit claiming that Sonos had infringed some of its IP. Last December, Sonos won the first round of its claims in a court ruling, after which the company split its claims to fight additional parallel claims against D&M Holdings.
Prior to the settlement it appeared that the proceedings would drag on for some time.
News of the settlement comes as Sonos prepares to launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO), targeting a market valuation of $2.5 billion -to-$3 billion, according to a Bloomberg report.
In advance of the pending IPO, Sonos recently imposed a 6% across-the-board cut in staffing to dress up the company’s financial sheet. The settlement of the dispute with Sound United will undoubtedly help in that regard as well.
By Greg Tarr
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