No fine for Motorola in Apple EU patent tussle, while Samsung agrees to play nice

European Commission competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia yesterday said that Motorola Mobility "abused its dominant position" over standards essential patents by threatening Apple with an injunction in Germany.

Tech companies can't make kit that complies with a certain standard — in this case GPRS — without using standards essential patents (SEPs). For a company's patent to be included in a standard, it has to agree to license it to other manufacturers on FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) terms — in Motorola Mobility's case, that didn't happen, said the EC.

Motorola Mobility had initially agreed to license the patents under FRAND terms, and Apple signed up to use them under the agreement that, in the event of any dispute over licensing costs, the German courts would set the royalty rates instead. After Apple decided the rates Motorola Mobility wanted were too high and not in keeping with FRAND terms, rather than allow a third party to decide a fair rate, Motorola responded by threatening a patent infringement injunction that could have seen Apple unable to sell its phones in some European countries.

"Motorola persisted in using the threat of an injunction to force Apple into a settlement agreement with very restrictive conditions," Almunia said. As a result of the threats, Apple also agreed not to pursue the matter through the courts.

"In such a case, the recourse to an injunction cannot be objectively justified and may become an anti-competitive tool in licensing negotiations," the commissioner added.