International Telecom

摘要

Motorola Mobility may be violating EU antitrust laws by seeking and enforcing an injunctionnagainst Apple in Germany based on its mobile phone standard-essential patents (SEPs), the EuropeannCommission said Monday. Although injunctions can be used in patent infringement cases, they maynamount to abusive conduct where SEPs are concerned and where the potential licensee is willing to obtainna license on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, it said. In that situation, the EC believesndominant SEP holders shouldn't be allowed to ask for injunctions, which generally bar sales of thenproduct that infringes the patent, in order to distort licensing negotiations and impose unjustified terms onnlicensees, it said. Such misuse of SEPs could ultimately hurt consumers, it said. Standards bodies usuallynrequire members to commit to licensing patents they have declared essential for a standard on FRANDnterms, it said. The commitment is aimed at ensuring effective access to a standard for all market playersnand to stop a single SEP holder from holding up rivals, it said. Access to SEPs is a precondition for anyncompany to sell interoperable products in the market, it said. Motorola's SEPs relate to the EuropeannTelecommunications Standardization Institute's GPRS standard, part of the GSM standard, a key industrynstandard for mobile and wireless communications, the EC said. When the standard was adopted innEurope, Motorola Mobility promised to license patents it declared essential to the standard on FRANDnterms, but it then sought an injunction against Apple in Germany, and enforced it, although Apple said itnwas willing to be bound by a determination of FRAND royalties by the German court. The EC believesnthe injunction in this case hurts competition, and opened an antitrust investigation in April. It sent an“statement of objections” to Motorola Mobility, which now has the right to respond and ask for an oralnhearing, the EC said. Sending the statement doesn't prejudge the final outcome of the probe, it said.