Monday that Motorola Mobility may
have abused its dominant market
position by denying Apple the right to
use technologyessential for mobile
phones.
It is a violation of European Union
antitrust rules for a patent holder to
deny use totechnologically essential
patents to companies willing to pay a
fair and reasonable price for their use.
Motorola Mobility, which Google
bought in August 2011, obtained a
court injunction preventing Apple from
using certain patented technologies
considered "standard-essential" for
the industry.
"The protection of intellectual property
is a cornerstone of innovation and
growth. But so is competition," said
Joaquin Almunia, the European Union's
competition commissioner. "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."
The preliminary finding, while not a
conclusion that any wrong has been
done, could in the end lead to formal
anti-trust charges.
European Commission spokesman
Jonathan Todd said that - if it were
concluded that Motorola Mobility had
misused its market position, and if a
fine were to be imposed - any such
fine would be paid by Motorola
Mobility rather than by Google. He
said most of the activity that may
have violated antitrust rules took place
before Google acquired the company.
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