Samsung has told the European Commission (EC) that it will not take any of its rivals, including Apple, to court over patent infringement issues for the following five years, as part of its efforts to end an antitrust probe.
The South Korean firm’s latest move, which has been raised to avoid facing $18.3bn fine for alleged abuses of the system, would also help ending a long-running patent battle between the world’s largest mobile operators.
EC said in a statement that Samsung has offered to abstain from seeking injunctions for mobile standard essential patents (SEPs) for a period of five years against any company that agrees to a particular licensing framework. Interested parties can now submit their comments within one month.
"If the Commission concludes, in light of the comments received, that the commitments address the competition concerns, it may decide to make them legally binding on Samsung," EC said.
Samsung has also been accused of stifling rivalry by bringing a chain of SEP lawsuits against Apple and other competitors.
EU has also charged Google’s Motorola Mobility with similar anti-competitive practise.
EC vice president in charge of competition policy Joaquín Almunia said other market players can give their feedback on Samsung’s proposals.
"Enforcing patents through injunctions can be perfectly legitimate," Almunia said.
"However, when patents are standard-essential, abuses must be prevented so that standard-setting works properly and consumers do not have to suffer negative consequences from the so-called patent wars.
"If we reach a good solution in this case, it will bring clarity to the industry".
Last month, Samsung offered new concessions to settle the European Union (EU) probe into its ‘attempts’ to use patent lawsuits to thwart competition from the iPhone maker.
Competing to gain control over the lucrative and fast-growing mobile market, Samsung and Apple are involved in patent disputes in about ten countries across the globe.
