Google is set for another trial this year after a $1.67 billion lawsuit has been filed against the tech giant for stealing patented AI technology.
Singular Computing, a Massachusetts-based hardware and software tech firm, filed an infringement case against Google for using its patented Tensor Processing Units in its own AI system.
The lawsuit claims that Google used Singular's technology for its services like Search, Gmail, Translate, and many more after its meetings with Singular founder Joseph Bates between 2010 and 2014.
Court documents reveal that Google's current chief scientist Jeff Dean told Bates in an email that Singular's technology is "really well suited" for Google's future projects.
Google's lawyers insisted that its scientists never met Bates and that Google's AI chips are "fundamentally different."
Google Faces More Lawsuits Amid Regulation Hurdles
The news of another lawsuit against the search giant comes in as US regulators clamp down on Google's services.
Just last September, Google faced its biggest antitrust trial after the US Department of Justice accused the company of paying billions of dollars to phone manufacturers to make Google the default search engine.
Three months later court documents revealed that Google agreed to pay a $700 million settlement in an antitrust case against Fortnite publisher Epic Games.
The lawsuit tackled Google's longstanding monopoly on in-app payments through the Google Play Store.
Google also paid $5 billion in a settlement last December following a 2020 consumer privacy lawsuit alleging the tech giant of collecting "millions" of user data even when they are in "Incognito" mode.
Read also: 102 Million People Eligible for $630 Million Google Play Settlement: How to Get Your Share
Regulators Crack Down on Google's Monopoly
The series of lawsuits last year has brought regulators in the US and Europe another foothold to crack down on Google's monopoly on the majority of online markets.
The US Department of Justice aims to further take steps on Google's dominance on the internet, the first time in the era of the modern Internet.
