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Commitments and Contingencies | 9 Months Ended
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Jul. 03, 2021
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | Commitments and Contingencies Legal proceedings From time to time, the Company is involved in legal proceedings in the ordinary course of business, including claims relating to employee relations, business practices and patent infringement. Litigation can be expensive and disruptive to normal business operations. Moreover, the results of complex legal proceedings are difficult to predict, and the Company’s view of these matters may change in the future as the litigation and events related thereto unfold. The Company expenses legal fees as incurred. The Company records a provision for contingent losses when it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. An unfavorable outcome to any legal matter, if material, could have an adverse effect on the Company’s operations or its financial position, liquidity or results of operations. On January 7, 2020, the Company filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC") against Alphabet Inc. ("Alphabet") and Google LLC ("Google") and a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Google. The complaint and lawsuit each allege infringement of certain Sonos patents related to its smart speakers and related technology. On February 6, 2020, the ITC initiated a formal investigation into the Company’s claims. Google and Alphabet filed an initial answer in the ITC action on February 27, 2020 and an amended answer on April 3, 2020, denying infringement and alleging that the asserted patents are invalid. The ITC case went to trial at the end of February 2021, and we expect an initial determination from the administrative law judge in the ITC case on or about August 13, 2021, which date was extended from the original date of May 11, 2021 as a result of COVID-related scheduling issues and workload increases pursuant to an order from the Chief Administrative Law Judge in May 2021. On March 4, 2020, the California District Court stayed the district court proceeding pending resolution of the ITC investigation. On March 11, 2020, Google filed an answer in the California District Court, denying infringement and alleging that the asserted patents are invalid. On September 28, 2020, Google filed for a declaratory judgement of non-infringement in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California related to five different Sonos patents. On September 29, 2020, the Company filed a lawsuit against Google in the U.S. District Court for Western District of Texas, alleging infringement of those five Sonos patents and seeking monetary damages and other non-monetary relief. On December 1, 2020, the Company filed a lawsuit against Google Germany GmbH and Google Ireland Ltd. in the regional court of Hamburg, Germany, alleging infringement of a Sonos patent related to control of playback of media by mobile and playback devices and seeking non-monetary relief. The Hamburg Court issued a judgment on February 25, 2021 declining to issue a preliminary injunction against Google Germany GmbH, although such court did issue a preliminary injunction against Google Ireland Ltd. on April 29, 2021. The issued preliminary injunction prevents Google Ireland Ltd. from making available in Germany its infringing Cast technology, aspects of which are protected by a Sonos patent related to enabling the ability to cast and control media content from a mobile phone or tablet on one or more smart playback devices. On June 17, 2021, the Company filed a penalty request with the Hamburg Court, alleging Google's failure to comply with the issued preliminary injunction, which penalty request Google has appealed both to stay enforcement and on the merits. On June 11, 2020, Google filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the Company, alleging infringement of five Google patents generally related to noise cancellation, digital rights management, media search and wireless relays and seeking monetary damages and other non-monetary relief. On November 2, 2020, the California District Court granted Sonos’ motion to dismiss Google’s allegation of infringement of one of these five Google patents, specifically a patent generally related to media search, finding that the invention at issue is patent ineligible. On June 4, 2021, the California District Court granted a stipulation to dismiss Google's allegation of infringement of another asserted patent involving noise cancellation. On June 12, 2020, Google filed lawsuits in District Court Munich I against Sonos Europe B.V. and Sonos, Inc., alleging infringement of two Google patents generally related to digital rights management and search notifications, and seeking monetary damages and an injunction preventing sales of any infringing Sonos products. On January 14, 2021, Google amended its infringement complaint related to the search notifications patent to relate to a limited version of the claims, in view of prior art cited by the Company. On March 3, 2021, the District Court Munich stayed a case for infringement of the search notifications patent pending the outcome of a nullity action based on doubt as to the validity of the patent. On June 23, 2021, the Munich court issued a decision dismissing Google's complaint related to the digital rights management patent for lack of infringement of at least two claim features. On August 21, 2020, Google filed a lawsuit against Sonos, Inc. in Canada, alleging infringement of one Google patent generally related to noise cancellation technology. On August 21, 2020, Google filed a lawsuit against Sonos Europe B.V. and Sonos, Inc. in France, alleging infringement of two Google patents generally related to digital rights management and search notifications, and seeking monetary damages and an injunction preventing sales of any infringing Sonos products. On February 8, 2021, Google withdrew its infringement allegations regarding the search notifications patent in view of prior art brought to the attention of the court by the Company. In August 2020, Google filed a lawsuit against Sonos Europe B.V. and Sonos, Inc. in the Netherlands alleging infringement of a Google patent related to search notifications, and seeking monetary damages and an injunction preventing sales of any infringing Sonos products. In September 2020, Google filed a lawsuit against Sonos Europe B.V. in the Netherlands, alleging infringement of a Google patent related to digital rights management, and seeking monetary damages and enforcement of an injunction preventing sales of any infringing Sonos products, which was transferred to the Midden-Netherlands court on March 22, 2021 following the grant of the Company's challenge to improper jurisdiction. A range of loss, if any, associated with these matters is not probable or reasonably estimable as of July 3, 2021 and October 3, 2020. On March 10, 2017, Implicit, LLC (“Implicit”) filed a patent infringement action in the United States District Court, District of Delaware against the Company. Implicit is asserting that the Company infringed on two patents in this case. The Company denies the allegations. There is no assurance of a favorable outcome and the Company’s business could be adversely affected as a result of a finding that the Company patents-in-suit are invalid and/or unenforceable. A range of loss, if any, associated with this matter is not probable or reasonably estimable as of July 3, 2021 and October 3, 2020. The Company is involved in certain other litigation matters not listed above but does not consider these matters to be material either individually or in the aggregate at this time. The Company’s view of the matters not listed may change in the future as the litigation and events related thereto unfold. On May 13, 2020, the Company was granted a temporary exclusion from the August 2019 Section 301 Tariff Action (List 4A) ("Section 301 tariffs") for its component products. On July 23, 2020, the Company was granted a temporary exclusion from Section 301 tariffs for its core speaker products. These exclusions eliminated the tariffs on the Company's component and core speaker products imported from China until August 31, 2020 and entitled the Company to a refund for the tariffs paid since September 2019, the date the Section 301 tariffs were imposed. On August 28, 2020, the United States Trade Representative granted an extension through December 31, 2020 of the exclusion for the Company’s core products, with the Section 301 tariffs for our core products automatically reinstating on January 1, 2021. The exclusion for the Company’s component products was not extended past August 31, 2020, with the Section 301 tariffs for our component products automatically reinstating on September 1, 2020. Tariff refund claims are subject to review and approval by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. As of July 3, 2021, the Company recognized $11.2 million in refunds based upon acceptance of the Company's refund request, recognized as a reduction to cost of revenue, and the outstanding refund receivable was approximately $1.2 million which is recorded in other current assets on the condensed consolidated balance sheets. As of July 3, 2021, the remaining outstanding tariff refund the Company expects to recover was approximately $22.5 million. The Company did not record these potential refunds due to uncertainty of the timing of acceptance of approval and will be recognized as a reduction to cost of revenue if and when acceptance occurs.

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