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Federal Circuit judges sided Wednesday with a patent board ruling that invalidated claims in yet another Google patent, a key development in the ongoing infringement lawsuit against wireless speaker brand Sonos.

After hearing oral arguments Monday, the Federal Circuit upheld a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruling that Google LLC lost in late 2022. This decision marks a significant win for Sonos Inc., a Santa Barbara, California-based company engaged in litigation with Google since 2020.

In a unanimous, unsigned decision, Federal Circuit judges affirmed the PTAB ruling without further comment.

The patent in question covered ideas developed by Google engineers related to "personalized network searching." Google had cited this patent in a suit the company filed against Sonos in 2020, five months after Sonos first accused Google of infringing its wireless audio technology patents in Google Home, Pixel, and Nest products.

Sonos successfully convinced the PTAB that the majority of claims in one of the Google patents, issued in 2018, could be found in language contained in patent paperwork dating back to the year 2000. Google’s appeal hinged entirely on arguing that PTAB judges had adopted the wrong set of definitions for the terms in the patent.

"Just to clarify, if we were to adopt the board's construction, then we would affirm, is that right?" U.S. Circuit Judge Kara Farnandez Stoll asked Google lawyer Erika Arner of Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP on Monday.

"That's correct," Arner replied. "The board's claim construction, however, should not be affirmed because it ignored the order that is imposed by the language and logic of the claims themselves."

Despite this argument, the Federal Circuit upheld the PTAB's decision.

Representatives for Sonos and Google did not immediately return requests for comment on Wednesday regarding the decision.

The Wednesday ruling is the latest in a series of Federal Circuit decisions affirming Sonos victories at the PTAB. On May 23, a different panel of judges issued a similar ruling about another Google patent.

In January, Sonos asked U.S. District Judge Edward Chen to dismiss Google's suit. Judge Chen is set to hold a hearing over that case next month.

Sonos' suit against Google has progressed further, resulting in a $32.5 million jury verdict, which was later overturned by another California federal judge and is currently before the Federal Circuit. Oral arguments in this case have yet to be scheduled.

The patent-at-issue is U.S. Patent No. 10,140,375.

U.S. Circuit Judges Timothy Dyk, Todd Hughes, and Kara Farnandez Stoll sat on the panel for the Federal Circuit.

Google is represented by Erika Arner, Cory C. Bell, Alissa Green, Kelly Horn, Sydney Kestle, and Daniel C. Tucker of Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP.

Sonos is represented by Elizabeth Moulton, Alyssa Margaret Caridis, Parth Sagdeo, and Emily Villano of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

The case is Google LLC v. Sonos Inc., case number 23-1357, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.