EU Commission has sent Samsung a ‘Statement of Objections’ wherein their preliminary view is that Samsung abused its position of owning standard-essential 3G UMTS patents (SEPs) and trying to gain an injunction against Apple products.
The Commission says Samsung was wrong on their part because they gave a commitment to license those patents on FRAND terms and Apple was willing to license them.
Do note, a Statement of Objections is the initial step in the investigation where the Commission informs the objections to both the parties in writing and companies can reply in writing and request an oral hearing to defend their views.
The final decision comes only after the defence and if found guilty, the Commission can impose a fine of up to 10% of a company’s annual worldwide turnover.
On a related note, Samsung recently withdrew all the injunction requests against Apple related to telecommunications patents in Europe.
How long will this continue.