The European Commission said it believed Motorola Mobility, a unit of Google, was abusing its market position by seeking and enforcing an injunction against Apple in Germany over patents essential to mobile phone standards.<\/p>\n
The Commission said in a statement it had informed Motorola Mobility of its preliminary view in a charge sheet known as a statement of objections.<\/p>\n
The Commission said injunctions could be used to combat patent infringements, but that was not the case where a potential licensee was prepared to agree on licensing terms.<\/p>\n
“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,” Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said.<\/p>\n
Almunia said earlier this year that regulators were considering charging more firms with anti-competitive practices in using injunctions to prevent rivals using their patents rather than negotiating fair fees.<\/p>\n
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