EU Charges Samsung With Abusing Vital Telecoms Patent 96
Dupple sends this news from Reuters:
"The European Commission charged Samsung Electronics on Friday with abusing its dominant position in seeking to bar rival Apple from using a patent deemed essential to mobile phone use. The Commission sent a 'statement of objections' to the South Korean group, with its preliminary view that Samsung was not acting fairly. 'Intellectual property rights are an important cornerstone of the single market. However, such rights should not be misused when they are essential to implement industry standards, which bring huge benefits to businesses and consumers alike,' Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in statement."
Re:And yet... (Score:5, Informative)
This is fundamentally a FRAND issue. Samsung submitted their patents as FRAND, Apple did not. FRAND places limitations on what Samsung can do with their patents in exchange for a simplified licensing system that gives them long term royalties from virtually every mobile device manufacturer.
Anyhow, going after Apple with FRAND patents was always a risky strategy, and the EU charges are exactly why.
Re:Play by the rules, you won't get burned (Score:2, Informative)
You might disagree with the way the business world works--as I know many of the ignoramuses on slashdot do--but Apple is the only company in this whole new-age-of-computing fracas that has been playing by the rules.
Like not paying license fees for patents of other companies?
Yeah, Apple is soooo innocent...
Re:And yet... (Score:0, Informative)
Damn, the Google shills have plenty of mod points today!
It's dipshits like you constantly harping on about "rounded corners", when that was just one small part of the suit, that make me happy to not be part of the Android crowd.
Face it, Android is just a weak copy of iOS. Now with more spyware!