The European Commission said the investigations in the anti-trust probe against Samsung Electronics and Google’s Motorola Mobility are nearing completion which was probing whether both the companies have abused major mobile-phone patents in their attempts to gain supremacy with Apple.
The Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia ruled that the European Commission’s move towards standard-essential patents will be made clear in two separate cases, one relating to Samsung and the other Motorola Mobility.
According to Almunia, the decisions are in pipeline and the timing of the verdicts does not depend only on the commission side.
Almunia has also sent statements of objections to the South Korean firm and Google’s mobile division, outlining the EU’s concern in relation to probable antitrust breaches, the Bloomberg reported.
As per the norm, the companies holding essential technology patents must share it with competitors through license on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms called FRAND, as per the agreed norm on standard by phone industry.
Reports reveal that Almunia’s move is targeted at ‘rules of the game’ to avoid firms from illegally leveraging their inventions to stifle competitions.
"I am not anticipating the date of the decision, because it doesn’t depend only on my will," Almunia said.
Motorola Mobility and Apple, which are also involved in patent infringement case, have sought a US judge to reopen a lawsuit, in which each of them is accused of illegally infringing patented technology.
