The European Commission today told Motorola Mobility that injunction against Apple in Germany on the basis of its mobile phone standard-essential patents “may be abusive.” According to release, the statement of Objections has been sent to the company, before giving the final outcome for the ongoing investigation.
Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy Joaquín Almunia said: “The protection of intellectual property is a cornerstone of innovation and growth. But so is competition. I think that companies should spend their time innovating and competing on the merits of the products they offer – not misusing their intellectual property rights to hold up competitors to the detriment of innovation and consumer choice.”
This is the second such time when Apple being at par got benefitted from a European Commission investigation in a year’s time. The first was back in January 2012 when the Commission launched a probe over Samsung’s refusal to fairly licensing of wireless patents which being essential to the 3G standards although Samsung dropped injunction request later on Apple in Germany, the UK, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
