"Samsung's litigation campaign and other conduct related to its Declared-Essential Patents is so egregious that the European Commission recently has opened an investigation to determine whether Samsung's behavior violates EU competition laws," said Apple Inc. in a recent filing with a U.S. district court in California.
Foss Patents, a blog on wireless intellectual properties by Germany-based consultant Florian Mueller, reported earlier that the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition's investigation is at a preliminary stage.
In October, a Dutch court dismissed Samsung's request to place a sales injunction on Apple's products, citing that under the principle of "FRAND" standards, or fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing commitments, Samsung cannot use its third-generation (3G) wireless patents to win court injunctions.
The Korean firm has previously allowed free use of its 3G standard-related patents by all in accordance with the FRAND principle, which is designed to prevent industry leaders from abusing their technological edge and deny market access to latecomers, judges in the Netherlands said.
Such patents that contribute to industry standards on FRAND terms must not be used as "strategic weapons," according to Mueller.
"If (Samsung) continues to aggressively pursue its cases against Apple based on 3G patents, it will only make things worse in the EU antitrust case," he said. "The European Commission would also have the power to force Samsung to license its patents to Apple on certain terms, which would render any injunctions useless."
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