Last week Dolby Laboratories sued Roku over concerns that Roku broke its licensing and infringed on its patents in violation of the two companies’ agreement.
Dolby says Roku used its technology to make its products “more attractive to potential customers” and increased its profits and Dolby’s expenses.
This comes as Roku has heavily used the Dolby branding to promote its streaming devices.
Dolby says Roku signed a license agreement in 2015 solely for Roku to test Dolby software with Roku. In 2016, the company agreed that Roku could use the Dolby technology under certain conditions, including paying royalties and quality testing. According to the lawsuit, Roku lied to Dolby about how it used the technology and refuses to cooperate with an audit by Dolby.
For the Roku user, this lawsuit has little if any impact but for Roku this could have a massive impact on its profitability and ability to use the Dolby branding to promote its streaming devices. For now, we will have to wait and see how this plays out.