A dispute between Dolby and Roku is heading to court after Dolby sued Roku, claiming that Roku misused Dolby technology and violated an agreement.
The lawsuit was filed on August 1, 2024, according to a report by Reuters:
- "Dolby said that the companies signed a license agreement in 2015 solely for Roku to test Dolby software's interoperability with Roku's systems. The complaint said the companies agreed in 2016 that Roku could distribute Dolby's software under certain conditions," reports Reuters.
- "The lawsuit said that Roku secretly incorporated Dolby's intellectual property in its software at least between 2016 and 2020, lied to Dolby about its use of the technology and refused to cooperate with an audit."
Dolby's indispensable technology
Dolby is seeking monetary damages and an injunction to block Roku's alleged misuse of its technology within the Roku OS operating system.
It is not yet clear which specific audio and video technologies Dolby is referring to, but the timeline suggests it may involve Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio. However, even Dolby's older technologies remain crucial in the streaming context, particularly for Roku media players and TVs.
There is currently no indication that Dolby and Roku will be severing their relationship, but this legal dispute is a negative development for Roku, which recently faced criticism for bricking users' devices unless they agreed to new terms that prohibit suing or participating in a lawsuit against Roku. Additionally, Roku has drawn criticism for expanding the amount of ads in its user interface.
- Source: Reuters
