EU Almunia: Patents 'Hold-Up' By Telecom Firms 'Unacceptable'
February 28 2012 - 10:43AM
Dow Jones News
Companies that use patents as a threat to ban competitors'
products from the market are engaged in "unacceptable" behavior,
European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Tuesday.
"Any company that holds these patents can effectively hold up
the entire industry with the threat of banning the products of
competitors from the market. This sort of hold-up is not
acceptable," he said in a speech to the European parliament.
Almunia noted that the European Commission, the EU's executive,
had received two new complaints against Motorola Mobility Inc.
(MMI) over the use of patents this month.
"We will examine them very closely," he said.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) said last week it filed a competition
complaint with the European Commission against Motorola and its
soon-to-be owner Google Inc. (GOOG) in connection with Motorola's
handling of patents it holds that form part of industry-wide
standards for Internet connectivity.
Apple Inc. (APPL) has also recently filed a suit in California
aimed at warding off any injunctions from Motorola Mobility on one
of Apple's iPhones and last week made a similar complaint to the
European Commission.
The commissioner also said that he wouldn't allow competition
pressure slide in the telecoms industry.
He said the liberalization of that market "remains one of
Europe's success stories," with access to the market and lower
prices in the sector crucial to the region's economy.
"It would be paradoxical and sad if the technologies of the
future were used to bring the industry back to a time when doors
were locked for innovative new players," he said.
Almunia said he was monitoring the cooperation of large telecom
firms as they develop new standards for regional networks.
-By Laurence Norman, Dow Jones Newswires; +32 (0)2 741 1481;
laurence.norman@dowjones.com
(Sarah Sloat and Frances Robinson contributed to this
article.)
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