Interested parties, including Apple, may comment on a proposal from Samsung to refrain from seeking injunctions for five years against any company that agrees to a licensing framework regarding mobile standard essential patents in Europe.
The European Commission announced Thursday that it would allow the market to "test" what are called "commitments" made by Samsung with the aim of avoiding sanctions over injunctions the South Korean company brought against Apple for using essential patents in several E.U. member states.
Holders of standard essential patents are required to license them on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory, or FRAND, terms. However, Samsung had sought to stop Apple from using particular patents, which the Commission decided was an abuse of Samsung's dominant market position.
As a result, Samsung dropped requests to ban Apple products in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The company has now offered to abstain from seeking injunctions for mobile standard essential patents for the five-year period when any company agrees to a particular licensing framework.
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