EU Wants More Concessions From Samsung in Patent-Abuse Case
Samsung is going to have to work a little bit harder if it hopes to settle accusations that it misused standards-essential patents to bolster its market position in Europe.
The European Commission said Monday that it has told Samsung that the concessions it has offered aren’t enough to resolve allegations that the company failed to honor its obligation to license standards-essential patents to rival device makers like Apple under fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms.
“The Commission can confirm that Samsung has submitted proposals,” EU spokesman Jonathan Todd told Reuters. “The Commission has assessed them and asked Samsung to improve them.”
The EC declined to elaborate on just what it has found to be lacking in Samsung’s proposal. Samsung didn’t respond to a request for comment, but it is likely taking the EC’s requests quite seriously. Sources say the company is keen to settle this before it really goes south. And for good reason: If Samsung fails to reach a settlement, it could end up facing fines as high as 10 percent of its 2012 revenues. That’s about $18.3 billion.
