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Commitments and Contingencies | 3 Months Ended
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Dec. 30, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | 7. Commitments and Contingencies Commitments to suppliers As of December 30, 2023, the Company's open purchase orders to contract manufacturers for finished goods were approximately $71 million, the majority of which are expected to be paid over the next six months. As of December 30, 2023, the Company's expected commitments to suppliers for components were in the range of $210 million to $240 million, the majority of which is expected to be paid and/or utilized by our contract manufacturers in building finished goods within the next two years. The expected commitments are subject to change as a result of fluctuations in the demand forecast, as well as ongoing negotiations with contract manufacturers and suppliers. These commitments are related to components that can be specific to Sonos products and include the following: 1) indirect obligations to third-party manufacturers and suppliers, 2) the inventory owned by contract manufacturers procured to manufacture Sonos products, and 3) purchase commitments made by contract manufacturers to their upstream suppliers. 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. The Company’s Lawsuits Against Google: 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 counterpart lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Google. The complaint and lawsuit each allege infringement by Alphabet and Google of certain Sonos patents related to its smart speakers and related technology. The counterpart lawsuit is stayed pending completion of the ITC investigation and appeal thereof. The ITC concluded its investigation in January 2022, finding all five of the Company’s asserted patents to be valid and infringed by Google, and further finding that one redesign per patent proposed by Google would avoid infringement. The ITC issued a limited exclusion order and a cease-and-desist order with respect to Google’s infringing products. The outcome of the ITC investigation is currently being appealed by the Company and Google. On September 29, 2020, the Company filed another lawsuit against Google alleging infringement of additional Sonos patents and seeking monetary damages and other non-monetary relief. A jury trial was held in May 2023, which found one Sonos patent to be infringed and another Sonos patent not infringed, and returned an award of $32.5 million based on a royalty rate of $2.30 per infringing unit. After trial, the court held Sonos’ patents unenforceable under the doctrine of prosecution laches and invalid as a result of amendments made during prosecution. The Company is appealing the ruling. On December 1, 2020, the Company filed a lawsuit against two Google foreign subsidiaries in the regional court of Hamburg, Germany, alleging infringement of a Sonos patent seeking non-monetary relief. The Company has since withdrawn this action after having received some preliminary relief. Google’s Lawsuits Against the Company: 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 by the Company of five Google patents and seeking monetary damages and other non-monetary relief. Four of these patents have since been found invalid by the Court or by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or have been withdrawn from the case by Google. In this lawsuit, one patent remains asserted against the Company. No trial date is set. 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 seeking monetary damages and an injunction preventing sales of allegedly infringing products. In March 2021, the District Court Munich stayed the case for infringement of one Google patent pending the outcome of a nullity action concerning the validity of that patent. In June 2021, the Munich court issued a decision dismissing Google's complaint regarding the other Google patent for lack of infringement by the Company. Google has appealed the Munich court's ruling, which is pending. On August 21, 2020, Google filed a lawsuit against the Company in Canada alleging infringement of one Google patent. On July 26, 2022, the Canadian court ruled that the Company does not infringe this patent after a trial on the merits. Google has appealed the Canadian court’s ruling, which is pending. On August 21, 2020, Google filed a lawsuit against Sonos Europe B.V. and Sonos, Inc. in France, alleging infringement of two Google patents seeking monetary damages and an injunction preventing sales of allegedly infringing products. In February 2021, Google withdrew its infringement allegations regarding one patent in view of prior art brought to the attention of the court by the Company. In March 2022, the French trial court ruled for the Company on one of Google's asserted patents. The French trial court found the other Google patent invalid in November 2023. Google has appealed the French trial court's March 2022 and November 2023 rulings, which are both pending. On August 21, 2020, Google filed a lawsuit against Sonos Europe B.V. and Sonos, Inc. in the Netherlands alleging infringement of a Google patent seeking an injunction preventing sales of allegedly infringing products. In October, 2022, the Netherlands court ruled that the Company does not infringe Google’s patent. In September 2020, Google filed a lawsuit against Sonos Europe B.V. in the Netherlands, alleging infringement of a Google patent and seeking an injunction preventing sales of allegedly infringing products. In February 2022, the Court rejected Google's claims concerning this patent. Google has appealed this decision, which is pending. On August 8, 2022, Google filed two complaints with the ITC against the Company and two counterpart lawsuits in the Northern District of California against the Company, collectively alleging infringement by the Company of seven Google patents generally related to wireless charging, device setup, and voice control, and seeking monetary damages and other non-monetary relief. The counterpart lawsuits are stayed pending completion of the ITC investigations. The ITC has terminated the investigation as to one Google patent as a result of imminent expiration of that Google patent. An oral hearing in the first ITC investigation took place in June 2023. The first ITC investigation concluded in December 2023 with a final determination of no violation by the Company. No appeal has been filed as of the date of this filing. The oral hearing in the second ITC investigation has been postponed after the administrative law judge has indicated that she will be invalidating both Google patents at issue. Implicit 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 has infringed on certain claims of two patents in this case. The Company denies the allegations. The claims at issue have been held unpatentable by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Implicit has appealed this ruling, which is currently scheduled to be heard by the appeals court in 2024. 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 September 30, 2023. 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. Tariff refunds On May 13, 2020, the Company was granted a temporary exclusion from the August 2019 Section 301 Tariff Action (List 4A) ("Section 301 tariffs"), eliminating the tariffs on the Company's component products imported from China until August 31, 2020. 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 reinstated on September 1, 2020. On July 23, 2020, the Company was granted a temporary exclusion from Section 301 tariffs, eliminating the tariffs on the Company’s core speaker products imported from China until August 31, 2020. These exemptions entitled the Company to refunds for tariffs paid from September 2019 through December 2020. On August 28, 2020, the United States Trade Representative ("USTR") granted an extension through December 31, 2020, of the exclusion for the Company’s core speaker products, with the Section 301 tariffs for our core speaker products automatically reinstated on January 1, 2021. On March 23, 2022, the Company was granted an exclusion extension from the Section 301 tariffs, eliminating tariffs on the Company’s core speaker products, including certain new product introductions, imported from China from April 13, 2022, through December 31, 2022. This exemption entitled the Company to refunds for tariffs paid from October 12, 2021, through April 12, 2022. On December 16, 2022, the USTR granted an extension through September 30, 2023, of the exclusion for the Company's core speaker products. On September 6, 2023, the USTR extended the existing exclusions from September 30, 2023 to December 31, 2023, and on December 26, 2023, the USTR extended a further exclusion through May 31, 2024. Tariff refund claims are subject to review and approval by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The Company recovered virtually all tariff refunds to which it was entitled by the end of fiscal 2023. As of December 30, 2023, the remaining refunds the Company expected to recover for tariffs paid from September 2019 through December 2020, and from October 12, 2021 through April 12, 2022, are minimal.

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