By Frances Robinson
Companies who don't play fair on intellectual property matters,
including patent licensing, risk facing the full force of Europe's
antitrust law, European Union Competition Commissioner Joaquin
Almunia said Monday.
Mr. Almunia said smartphone maker Samsung Electronics Co.
(005930.SE) will need to do more to settle an EU probe opened in
2012 over whether its use of patent injunctions against Apple Inc.
(AAPL) breached the bloc's rules.
The company has said it will refrain from seeking injunctions in
the courts to protect certain key technology patents for a period
of five years.
"Samsung essentially proposes not to enjoin companies which are
willing to have the dispute settled by a court or arbitrator," Mr.
Almunia said in a speech in Paris. "We have market-tested these
commitments and will take account of the feedback when we discuss
with Samsung possible improvements to their commitments in the
coming weeks."
On concerns about Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) acquisition of Nokia
Corp.'s (NOK1V.HE) mobile-phone business, the antitrust chief said:
"Some have claimed that the sale of the unit would give the company
the incentive to extract higher returns from this portfolio."
The 5.4 billion euro ($7.4 billion) purchase includes a 10-year
licensing agreement of the Finnish smartphone maker's patent
portfolio and for all its smartphone products. But the EU's
antitrust review process only deals with competition concerns, not
what the seller could one day do with intellectual property
claims.
"If Nokia were to take illegal advantage of its patents in the
future, we will open an antitrust case--but I sincerely hope we
will not have to," Mr. Almunia said. Considering patent law more
generally, "I believe that injunctions should not be available when
there is a willing licensee," he added.
Write to Frances Robinson at frances.robinson@dowjones.com
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