Samsung has offered to settle with the European Union, which has been investigating whether the Korean giant uses its standards-essential patents (SEP) in an anti-competitive way.
‘After lengthy discussions, Samsung has sent us a set of commitments seeking to address our concerns,’ said EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia in a speech in New York. ‘We will formally market test these proposed commitments with other market participants in the coming weeks.’
After complaints from Apple and others, the EU has been probing Samsung’s policies in licensing some of its IPR, and whether it followed Frand (fair reasonable and non-discriminatory) principles, which are supposed to apply to patents which are essential to standards.
Almunia has been aggressive in seeking to crack down on possible abuses of SEP – particularly IPR holders’ decision to seek injunctions to stop alleged infringers from selling products, rather than to push for licensing deals. He also wants to clarify the confused guidelines that surround Frand.
If Samsung’s proposed remedies ‘ which have not been detailed ‘ are approved after discussions with the complainants, the commissioner said: ‘We will take a commitment decision which would, I believe, bring clarity on SEP and injunctions across the industry.’
A Samsung spokesperson said the firm had been in ‘constructive talks’ with the EU but would not give details. ‘We believe our proposals will provide appropriate resolution to reduce uncertainties [about SEP] and confirm our long-standing commitment to fair and reasonable licensing of our technologies,’ the company said in a statement. ‘Samsung has always preferred to compete in the marketplace, not in courtrooms, and we will continue to invest in our intellectual property rights to promote innovations to benefit consumers and the industry.’
Also on the EU patent front, a group of technology firms, including Apple, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft and Samsung, have sent an open letter to European regulators warning that plans for a single EU court for patent appeals could be abused by patent trolls.
The principle of a single framework for resolving patent disputes ‘ rather than the fragmented web of national courts that currently exists ‘ has been welcomed. The letter acknowledges that an ” effective and balanced unitary patent system has the potential to decrease the costs of obtaining patent protection, increase European competitiveness, and support the long term growth of innovative industries in Europe and abroad.”
But the 16 signatories are concerned by some of the details, particularly that a patent troll could get a swift judgement, with potential fines or product bans, across the whole of the EU. The companies signing the document were adidas, Apple, BlackBerry, Bull, Cisco, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, European Semiconductor Industry Association, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, Samsung, SFIB, Telecom Italia and Yahoo!