The European Union (EU) is planning to issue a formal complaint against Samsung Electronics for patent abuse in its ongoing patent war with its rival Apple.
EU competition chief Joaquin Almunia was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying "We will issue a statement of objections very soon, I don’t know if at the end of this year or at beginning of next year, because we are in the last step of our internal procedure."
"What we are analysing…precisely is the possible abuse because Samsung launched injunctions and we will continue to investigate this for sure," Almunia said.
In February 2012, the EU started investigating whether Samsung had broken its promise to license key technology to any of its rivals.
The probe is concentrated around Frand commitments, which involve licensing of essential innovations that are vital for an industry standard based on fair terms.
Last week, Samsung withdrew its bid to ban sales of US based Apple’s devices in Europe. The move from Samsung follows US District Court Judge Lucy Koh decision to reject the iPhone maker’s request to ban 26 Samsung products from sale.
Apart from Samsung, the EU is also investigating allegations made against search major Google, alleging that it manipulated search results to promote its own businesses.
