Lawsuits: Samsung to appease EU on patent fight

Samsung answers accusations by Brussels over the smartphone and tablet market fight

BRUSSELS: South Korea’s Samsung has answered accusations by Brussels that the company abused its dominant market position by taking out unfair injunctions against rival Apple, the European Commission said on Friday.

In the drawn-out fight between the giants over the smartphone and tablet market, the commission believes legal manoeuvres launched by Samsung would unfairly prevent Apple from access to crucial shared patents.

Earlier the commission informed Samsung that its injunctions over Apple’s access to Standard-Essential Patents (SEPS) were in violation of European Union’s anti-trust rules. The warning came after Brussels opened a probe early in 2012 following Samsung injunctions to ban the sale of products made by its competitors in several European countries, alleging that they were illegally using its patents.

Apple and Samsung have filed lawsuits against each other in around a dozen countries for alleged patent violations over competing products.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2013.

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