Samsung has offered to put a halt to lawsuits over standard-essential patents for a period of five years as the company seeks a détente in the ongoing antitrust case brought against it by the European Union. According to the European Commission, the South Korean electronics company has “offered to abstain from seeking injunctions for mobile SEPs (standard essential patents) for a period of five years against any company that agrees to a particular licensing framework.” If the case isn’t settled and Samsung is found guilty, the company could potentially face a fine of more than $18 billion.
The EU argued that Samsung abused its collection of standard-essential patents, which by law must be licensed at fair and reasonable rates to any party who wishes to license them, by leveraging the patents against Apple in an attempt to ban sales of iOS devices across Europe. The South Korean electronics company was formally charged in the case last December. According to the European Commission for Competition, Joaquin Almunia:
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.
For those of you who didn’t know, Samsung has been fighting an uphill legal battle as of late. In the month of October alone, the company has suffered an import ban on several models of handsets that violate Apple patents and been accused of inappropriately misusing confidential information obtained as part of the landmark Apple vs. Samsung trial that resulted in a $1.05 billion verdict.
Source: BBC
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