Brussels, 03/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - Further to complaints made by Apple and Microsoft, the European Commission on 3 April opened two investigations under Article 102 of the TFEU (abuse of dominant position) into the designer of smart phones and tablets Motorola Mobility Inc, to determine whether the company has used some of its essential patents related to standards with the aim of distorting competition on the internal market.
In particular, it is investigating whether, by seeking and enforcing injunctions against Apple's and Microsoft's flagship products such as iPhone, iPad, Windows and Xbox, on the basis of patents it had declared essential to produce standard-compliant products, Motorola has failed to honour the irrevocable commitments it has made to the standard-setting organisations, which oblige it to grant licences for these so-called essential patents under “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” terms, in order to guarantee potential competitors' effective access to standardised technology. The Commission will also examine Apple's and Microsoft's allegations that Motorola offered unfair licensing conditions for its standard-essential patents. The opening of proceedings in no way prejudges the outcome of the case that is being investigated, the Commission stresses in a press release.
Similar investigations were opened in late January against Samsung Electronics to investigate whether the Korean company had abused its rights over patents to bias competition on the European mobile device market, particularly tablets. Readers may also recall that on 13 February of this year, the Commission approved the purchase of Motorola Mobility by Google “without prejudice to potential anti-trust concerns related to the use of standard essential patents”. (FG/transl.fl)