Audio company Sonos scored a major win over Google in an ongoing court battle, with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) finding the technology giant infringed on five patents in a preliminary ruling.

Sonos first launched legal action against Google in January 2020, accusing the company of stealing its audio technology. The search giant responded six months later by countersuing, adding the audio outfit was making false claims about their partnership.

The ITC, which launched an investigation into the row in February 2020, found all five of Sonos’ patent claims to be valid. In a brief statement, it did not go into the reasons behind why it sided with the company and the ruling does not represent a final decision.

A full commission probe will consider whether to accept or reverse the initial decision, with the case to be concluded on 13 December.

When launching the action against Google, Sonos sought a ban on the sale of its speakers, smartphones and laptops in the US. Ultimately it is hoping the ITC will eventually block the import of these products.

Google representative Jose Castaneda hit out at the ruling, issuing a statement maintaining the company does “not use Sonos’ technology” and competes “on the quality of our products and the merits of our ideas”.

Sonos further raised concerns Amazon also infringed on its patents in its products, but opted to focus its efforts on its row with Google for now.