Samsung in Talks to Settle EU Antitrust Charges Linked to Lawsuits Against Apple

MacRumors · Jun 25, 2013

Reuters reports that Samsung is in preliminary talks with European Union regulators in order to settle antitrust charges stemming from the company's use of standards-essential patents in litigation against Apple. Samsung could have faced fines of up to $17.3 billion, but any settlement would apparently result in no fine and no admission of wrongdoing.

"Samsung has been involved in settlement discussions for several months now. Samsung wants to settle," said one of the sources, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The sources said it was still too early to say if the discussions would result in a settlement.

Samsung has come under criticism for using standards-essential patents in litigation, as such patents are required to be licensed under reasonable terms in order to allow competitors to offer products supporting industry standards. Many regulators and observers believe that such patents should not be used to pursue injunctions preventing competitors from selling their products, even while licensing agreements have not yet been reached.

Samsung had dropped its lawsuits against Apple back in December "in the interest of protecting consumer choice", although it was clear that the European Commission was pressuring Samsung over its use of the patents in court.

Google's Motorola Mobility unit has come under similar scrutiny from European regulators over its use of standards-essential patents in lawsuits against Apple.

In other Apple-Samsung patent lawsuit news, Bloomberg reports that Apple has lost its appeal in a Japanese case in which it claimed that Samsung infringed upon a patent related to synchronizing music and video data with servers. Samsung had prevailed in an initial trial back in August.

Article Link: Samsung in Talks to Settle EU Antitrust Charges Linked to Lawsuits Against Apple

Winni · Jun 25, 2013

Let the Samsung-bashing begin in 3... 2... 1...

Ileev · Jun 25, 2013

Samsung, go home.

iJawn108 · Jun 25, 2013

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/samsung

ValSalva · Jun 25, 2013

Messing with standards-essential patents is a real no-no. A $17 billion potential fine. Wow.

Rogifan · Jun 25, 2013

Winni said:
Let the Samsung-bashing begin in 3... 2... 1...

Hey at least it will balance out the Apple bashing.

iAi · Jun 25, 2013

It is just fair to bash non-Apples in this forum. It is purely phanboyism to come in here and just to annoy the Apple fans relentlessly / excessively / obsessively at their home forum.

Rocketman · Jun 25, 2013

MacRumors said:
Samsung is in preliminary talks with European Union regulators in order to settle antitrust charges stemming from the company's use of standards-essential patents in litigation against Apple. Samsung could have faced fines of up to $17.3 billion

If I was EU and had unilateral jurisdiction to issue fines in the tens of billions of Euros, I wouldn't even talk about settling. I would issue the fines and see what behavior changes and consider maybe moderating half of them later. What would the EU even do with a 10 billion Euro fine anyway? Not give it back to harmed vendors as it should be of course!

Rocketman

needfx · Jun 25, 2013

I am not settling for anything under 12,3 billion trillion something

Oletros · Jun 25, 2013

Rocketman said:
If I was EU and had unilateral jurisdiction to issue fines in the tens of billions of Euros, I wouldn't even talk about settling. I would issue the fines

I suppose that the fine would be after being found guilty in the trial

Mr.damien · Jun 25, 2013

Samsung had dropped its lawsuits against Apple back in December "in our own interest for not losing 17 billions"

Fixed for them

Michael Goff · Jun 25, 2013

iAi said:
It is just fair to bash non-Apples in this forum. It is purely phanboyism to come in here and just to annoy the Apple fans relentlessly / excessively / obsessively at their home forum.

I sincerely hope you're missing the requisite <sarcasm></sarcasm> tags.

Technarchy · Jun 25, 2013

Let the comedy ensue!

And fwiw lots of people called it, but the samshills were out in force and said it wasn't standard essential abuse.

Reason077 · Jun 25, 2013

Rocketman said:
If I was EU and had unilateral jurisdiction to issue fines in the tens of billions of Euros, I wouldn't even talk about settling. I would issue the fines and see what behavior changes and consider maybe moderating half of them later.

The European Commission does not have unilateral power to issue such fines. The can allege wrongdoing, but they must go to the court of justice and have the matter decided according to the law like everyone else.

Believe it or not, the EU isn't some totalitarian regime - it has separate legislative and judicial branches like other democracies!

lucas107 · Jun 25, 2013

Doesn't that mean that Apple is not paying to use the patent?

Oletros · Jun 25, 2013

lucas107 said:
Doesn't that mean that Apple is not paying to use the patent?

No, SEP patents must be always paid

AZREOSpecialist · Jun 25, 2013

Huh, when I break the law I have to pay a fine and/or go to jail. I don't have the option of settling, paying no fine, and admitting no fault. It seems corporations are the new crime syndicate of the 21st century.

realeric · Jun 25, 2013

EU antitrust commission is alive. US's is dead.

Oletros · Jun 25, 2013

realeric said:
EU antitrust commission is alive. US's is dead.

Why?

macs4nw · Jun 25, 2013

Winni said:
Let the Samsung-bashing begin in 3... 2... 1...

Ileev said:
Samsung, go home.

Right on cue.....

MacRumors said:
.....Reuters reports that Samsung is in preliminary talks with European Union regulators in order to settle antitrust charges stemming from the company's use of standards-essential patents in litigation against Apple. Samsung could have faced fines of up to $17.3 billion, but any settlement would apparently result in no fine and no admission of wrongdoing.....

An excellent incentive, for any company, to sit down and talk.

ValSalva said:
Messing with standards-essential patents is a real no-no. A $17 billion potential fine. Wow.

Wow indeed! Makes that 1.05 Billion fine, that's yet to be adjudicated, seem like small potatoes.

Rogifan said:
Hey at least it will balance out the Apple bashing.

MacRumors believes in fairness.....

MacRumors said:
.....Samsung had dropped its lawsuits against Apple back in December "in the interest of protecting consumer choice", although it was clear that the European Commission was pressuring Samsung over its use of the patents in court.....

Translation: Our lawyers came to their senses and finally gave us some solid advice.

Rocketman said:
If I was EU and had unilateral jurisdiction to issue fines in the tens of billions of Euros, I wouldn't even talk about settling. I would issue the fines and see what behavior changes and consider maybe moderating half of them later.....

Now that would have been overstepping their authority.

MacRumors said:
.....Samsung has come under criticism for using standards-essential patents in litigation, as such patents are required to be licensed under reasonable terms in order to allow competitors to offer products supporting industry standards. Many regulators and observers believe that such patents should not be used to pursue injunctions preventing competitors from selling their products, even while licensing agreements have not yet been reached.....

Article Link: Samsung in Talks to Settle EU Antitrust Charges Linked to Lawsuits Against Apple

Isn't that what APPLE has maintained since the beginning, that SAMSUNG was unreasonable in licensing its FRAND patents to APPLE, and also that they weren't interested in paying APPLE for the allegedly infringed upon non-FRAND patents APPLE holds?

gnasher729 · Jun 25, 2013

Winni said:
Let the Samsung-bashing begin in 3... 2... 1...

At my workplace, we have a very nice fridge made by Samsung. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. And it gives you cooled water and crushed ice as much as you want. Apple has nothing that competes with this.

----------

ValSalva said:
Messing with standards-essential patents is a real no-no. A $17 billion potential fine. Wow.

Not really. "Ten percent of revenue" is the upper limit - that's the number that a fine cannot possibly exceed. But apart from that, the fine must match the wrongdoing. If some wrongdoing deserved a $3 million fine, then a company with $10 million revenue would pay $1 million, while Samsung or Apple would pay the full $3 million for the same wrongdoing.

FakeWozniak · Jun 25, 2013

realeric said:
EU antitrust commission is alive. US's is dead.

Oletros said:
Why?

My take is that these are mostly NON-EU corporations. It would appear that the US's is dead, but Samsung and Apple are pretty big developers in the US.

I do think the US government (Senate investigations, eBook, privacy, maps, etc) are trying to knock Apple off it's king of the hill position.

pirg · Jun 25, 2013

Samsung wants to settle? Shocking.

j4zb4 · Jun 25, 2013

pirg said:
Samsung wants to settle? Shocking.

I remember reading something a long time back from Samsung which saisd "we will never settle"...

Oletros · Jun 25, 2013

j4zb4 said:
I remember reading something a long time back from Samsung which saisd "we will never settle"...

With Apple, not with EU

Samsung in Talks to Settle EU Antitrust Charges Linked to Lawsuits Against Apple

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