Brussels, 17/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 17 October, the European Commission opened consultation with interested parties on commitments offered by Samsung Electronics (Samsung) in relation to the enforcement of the standard essential patents (SEPs) it owns in the field of mobile communications. Samsung owns SEPs related to mobile telecommunications standards and has committed to license these SEPs on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, but has taken its rival, Apple, to court in a number of member states for violating the SEPs for mobile phones (see EUROPE 10758), and the Commission fears the South Korean giant may be abusing its dominant position on the market. In December 2012, the Commission said that seeking injunctions before courts is generally a legitimate remedy for patent holders in case of patent infringements, but access to patents which are standard-essential is a precondition for any company to sell interoperable products in the market. The Commission is concerned that the seeking of injunctions in such circumstances could allow Samsung to impose royalty rates or other licensing terms, such as broad cross-licenses, which a licensee would not agree to, absent the threat of having its products excluded from the market. This may unduly distort licensing negotiations and cause harm to consumers by increasing prices, reducing product choice and stifling differentiating innovation in the markets for smartphones and tablets. To allay these fears, Samsung has pledged to not make any injunctions for five years for its SEPs against companies that agree to the granting of special licences including a negotiating period of at least 12 months, and the setting of equitable licensing conditions by a third party (a court or arbitration service) if agreement is not reached. Interested parties have one month to submit comments to the Commission, after which the Commission will decide whether the proposed commitments are satisfactory in terms of competition and whether they should be made legally binding. (FG/transl.fl)