When EU Commission opened an antitrust case against Samsung last year, Samsung was confident of proving they didn't violate any rules. Fast forward to today, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia says “Samsung has submitted their commitments to address the concerns.” While the recommendations are under wraps for the moment, the Commission confirmed to “soon launch a market test on these proposals”.
The commitments, if found acceptable, could save Samsung from paying a heavy antitrust fine that will run in for more than $15 billion.
Here's the full statement.
The company committed to a standards body to license its standard-essential patents to market participants in return for reasonable remuneration.
But later, the company sought injunctions based on those patents although in our view there was a willing licensee.
Last December, we sent Samsung a Statement of Objections which outlined our concern that its conduct was anti-competitive.
After lengthy discussions, Samsung has sent us a set of commitments seeking to address our concerns.
We will formally market test these proposed commitments with other market participants in the coming weeks.
If we then conclude that the commitments address our concerns, we will take a commitment decision which would – I believe – bring clarity on SEPs and injunctions across the industry.
