Brussels, 11/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - Groups which do not respect intellectual property rights, particularly patent licences, risk heavy sanctions under European anti-trust legislation, Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia warned on Monday 9 December. This means that the South Korean manufacturer Samsung will have to put a more incisive offer on the table to allow the Commission to close the investigation it opened in 2012 to determine whether the group was abusing its dominant position by seeking to obtain injunctions before a number of courts of the member states against competitors - not least among them Apple - accusing them of having made illegal use of its patents.
In September of this year, Samsung said that it would stop taking action against its competitors on these grounds for a period of five years. The company also offered to discuss licensing rights over its patents for a year and stated that, in the event of a dispute, the arbitration would be entrusted to a tribunal or ombudsman. Today, Almunia suggests that the competitors, who have been consulted by the Commission, are not satisfied with these commitments. We will take account of their opinions when we “discuss with Samsung possible improvements to their commitments in the coming weeks”, said the commissioner, declining to go into detail. Samsung still faces a fine of $18.3 billion or 10% of its turnover for 2012 if it fails to respond to the concerns voiced by the Commission. Additionally, with regard to the Commission's concerns over the acquisition by Microsoft of Nokia's mobiles activity (this acquisition, with a pricetag of €5.4 billion, included a 10-year licensing agreement over the Finnish manufacturer's portfolio of patents and all its mobile products), the commissioner said: “If Nokia tries to take illegal advantage of its patents in the future, we will open an anti-trust investigation”, adding that he hoped that he would not have to do this. (FG/transl.fl)