EU seeks public comment on Samsung anti-trust remedies

EU headquarters in Brussels. Image: Wiki Images

The Commission, the EU's executive arm, has charged Samsung with lodging unfair legal injunctions against Apple over the US company's use of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs), key patents across high-technology industries.

Samsung has claimed that some of the SEPs used by Apple in its mobile phones are its intellectual property and so took its rival to court.

The Commission launched an investigation into anti-competitive practices last year, judging in December that Samsung was at fault.

"Samsung has since offered to abstain from seeking injunctions for mobile SEPs for a period of five years against any company that agrees to a particular licensing framework," the Commission said in a statement.

"Interested parties can now submit their comments within one month," it said.

"If the response Samsung's remedies are positive, the Commission will then make them legally binding on the company," it added.

"Enforcing patents through injunctions can be perfectly legitimate," EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in the statement.

However, he said abuse of SEP rights must be prevented so that the standard-setting works uniformly and consumers do not have to suffer negative consequences.

"If we reach a good solution in this case, it will bring clarity to the industry," Almunia said.

Apple and Samsung have filed lawsuits against each other in about a dozen countries for alleged patent violations over competing products, in particular the iPhone and Galaxy S smartphones, as well as tablet computers.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge