European Commission Opens Investigation into Samsung's Patent Threats Against Apple

According to legal documents filed by Apple, the European Commission is investigating Samsung's patent litigation to determine if its use of 3G-related patents violates competition laws. Apple has argued that those patents are essential to basic device operation and must therefore be licensed under FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms.

Samsung has launched an aggressive, worldwide campaign to enjoin Apple from allegedly practicing Samsung's patents. Samsung has sued Apple for infringement and injunctions in no fewer than eight countries outside the United States. Indeed, Samsung's litigation campaign and other conduct related to its Declared-Essential Patents is so egregious that the European Commission recently has opened an investigation to determine whether Samsung's behavior violates EU competition laws.

Moreover, the European Commission issued a statement related to the investigation, noting that it asked both Apple and Samsung to provide it with information on patents.

The Commission has indeed sent requests for information to Apple and Samsung concerning the enforcement of standards-essential patents in the mobile telephony sector. Such requests for information are standard procedure in antitrust investigations to allow the Commission to establish the relevant facts in a case.