The complaint

The case is Cerence Operating Co. v. Sony Group Corp., No. 2:26-cv-00878 (E.D. Tex.), filed in the Marshall Division. The complaint defines the accused products as products with voice processing functionality, including, without limitation, Sony's PlayStation 5 with DualSense Wireless Controller, noise cancelling headphones, XAV Series Wireless Auto Media Receivers, Microphone Array System, Professional Audio Products, and Broadcast and Production Products.

The asserted patents, with the titles and issue dates the complaint gives, are U.S. Patent 11,929,073, Hybrid Arbitration System, issued March 12, 2024; U.S. Patent 10,783,899, Babble Noise Suppression, issued September 22, 2020; U.S. Patent 8,306,815, Speech Dialog Control Based on Signal Pre-Processing, issued November 6, 2012; U.S. Patent 11,087,750, Methods and Apparatus for Detecting a Voice Command, issued August 10, 2021; and U.S. Patent 8,194,872, Multi-Channel Adaptive Speech Signal Processing System with Noise Reduction, issued June 5, 2012. The body of the complaint does not identify claim numbers; for each patent it attaches a claim chart, Exhibits 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, applying an exemplary independent claim to one or more exemplary accused products. Each count pleads direct, induced, and contributory infringement and willfulness.

Knowledge and the Gracenote partnership

The complaint alleges knowledge of each patent at least as of the date Sony was notified of the filing of the complaint, and, on information and belief, earlier knowledge, or at a minimum willful blindness, from the parties' prior litigation and from a ten-year partnership that Nuance Communications, Cerence's predecessor, entered in or about January 2012 with Gracenote, Inc., then an independent subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, to develop voice-controlled consumer interfaces. It also says that on November 18, 2025, Cerence's counsel shared and discussed a licensing presentation with Sony identifying "Relevant Patents Not Yet Asserted," including some of the asserted patents, and "Relevant Sony Products," including Sony headphones and PlayStation gaming systems, and it pleads knowledge of the '815 and '750 patents from that date.

Related proceedings

The complaint says Cerence filed an ITC complaint against the same three Sony entities in August 2025 accusing Sony smart televisions under four patents, together with a companion case in this court, No. 2:25-cv-00757, which it describes as pending. The Commission instituted that investigation, Certain Smart Televisions, Inv. No. 337-TA-1461, by notice published in the Federal Register on September 30, 2025, on U.S. Patents 7,840,579, 7,894,598, 8,189,810, and 9,171,541. The notice names fifteen respondents: the three Sony entities and twelve others, including TCL Technology Group Corporation and TTE Technology, Inc. None of those four patents is asserted in the new case. Two of the new case's patents, the '815 and '073 patents, are among the five patents in Certain Smart Devices, Inv. No. 337-TA-1504, instituted by notice published June 10, 2026, in which Cerence is the complainant and the respondents are Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon.com Services, LLC, not Sony.

Venue and relief

The complaint pleads venue under 28 U.S.C. 1391 and 1400, alleging that Sony Group Corporation does not reside in the United States and, citing In re HTC Corp., 889 F.3d 1349 (Fed. Cir. 2018), may be sued in any district, and that Sony Corporation of America and Sony Electronics are registered to do business in Texas and have regular and established places of business in Plano and Frisco, Texas. The prayer asks for a judgment of infringement and willfulness, a permanent injunction, damages of no less than a reasonable royalty with interest under 35 U.S.C. 284, trebled damages, and an exceptional-case finding with fees under 35 U.S.C. 285.

What to watch next

Watch for Sony's answer or motions, any request to coordinate this case with No. 2:25-cv-00757, and any petitions for inter partes review of the five patents. The case can end at any time by license, settlement, or dismissal.