This week Samsung has decided to withdraw all lawsuits in which it used FRAND patents to obtain bans on sales of iDevices, saying that the decision is related to protecting the interests of consumers, etc. Although Samsung tried to present everything as a gesture of goodwill, in reality the company took this step only a few days ago before being officially charged by the European Commission for violating antitrust laws by using FRAND patents in lawsuits.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission is set to charge South Korean electronics group Samsung in an antitrust patent case, the European Union's competition chief Joaquin Almunia said on Thursday. The EU competition watchdog is investigating whether Samsung broke EU competition rules by filing patent lawsuits against Apple. "We will issue a statement of objections very soon," Almunia said, referring to the Commission's charge sheet.
Those from Apple asked the European Commission to investigate the way in which Samsung uses FRAND patents in lawsuits, it filed a complaint and the competition commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, said that soon the EC will file official charges against Samsung. Basically, Samsung could bear quite large fines for the way it abused its patents, but it is clear that the decision to give up part of the lawsuits filed by Apple has nothing to do with anything other than EC actions.
