EU Charges Samsung With Abusing Vital Telecoms Patent

Posted by Soulskill on Friday December 21, 2012 @08:50AM from the jig-is-up dept.

Dupple sends this news from Reuters: "The European Commission charged Samsung Electronics on Friday with abusing its dominant position in seeking to bar rival Apple from using a patent deemed essential to mobile phone use. The Commission sent a 'statement of objections' to the South Korean group, with its preliminary view that Samsung was not acting fairly. 'Intellectual property rights are an important cornerstone of the single market. However, such rights should not be misused when they are essential to implement industry standards, which bring huge benefits to businesses and consumers alike,' Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in statement."

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Re:And yet... by rsmith-mac · 2012-12-21 10:18 · Score: 4, Informative

This is fundamentally a FRAND issue. Samsung submitted their patents as FRAND, Apple did not. FRAND places limitations on what Samsung can do with their patents in exchange for a simplified licensing system that gives them long term royalties from virtually every mobile device manufacturer.
Anyhow, going after Apple with FRAND patents was always a risky strategy, and the EU charges are exactly why.