settlement $'s?
- Sonos(NASDAQ:SONO)is 0.5% highertoday after giving up some earlier gains following a victory at the International TradeCommission in a fight over patents with Google(GOOG-0.7%,GOOGL-0.7%) - and Morgan Stanley says the win brings Sonos a bit closer to monetizing its intellectual property.
- The ruling is "further proof that Sonos has industry-leading IP that they can successfully defend in court," analyst Katy Huberty and team write.
- It might not bring any direct monetary benefit - the ITC only implements trade-related rulings - but it proves two important points, Morgan Stanley says. First, "Sonos indeed has industry-leading audio technology IP," and second, "they can successfully defend said IP against competitors they believe unfairly infringe upon their technology."
- Sonos has defended IP and negotiated licensing deals with smaller competitors, but Google is of a different scale, the firm says.
- The audio company now has more negotiating power to either work out a licensing deal out of court, or use the ruling to strengthen its court case against Google (currently stayed) in California's Central District - where it could gain monetary rewards in the form of damages or an ongoing license payment.
- One caution is that Google appears willing to keep making its case, meaning a negotiated settlement is the best case scenario vs. a protracted patent-infringement battle that could last years.
- Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating on Sonos with a $49 price target, now implying 69% upside.
