EC competition chief warns against patent abuses

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION'S chief competition enforcer has vowed to take a tough line with firms that abuse patents.

Vice President of the European Commission (EC) responsible for Industrial and Competition Policy, Joaquin Almunia told companies that if they behave unfairly he will come down hard on them.

"Standards are the best tool to promote interoperability of devices or to define safety or quality benchmarks. In the communications technologies, standards are key for a universal interconnection and seamless communication. Once a standard is adopted, it becomes the norm and the underlying patents are indispensable.

"Owners of such standard essential patents are conferred a power on the market that they cannot be allowed to misuse," he said in a speech at the Concurrences Journal conference.

Almunia's comments came in a talk about business in general, and he accompanied his comments on patents with warnings against holding back local businesses and innovation.

Monopolisation is everywhere, he warned, but wherever it is, the EC will find it. "When monopolies and tight oligopolies are allowed to occupy a market, they tend to resist change and often end up caring only about the preservation of their business models... Owners of such standard essential patents are conferred a power on the market that they cannot be allowed to misuse," he cautioned.

He warned, "I am determined to use antitrust enforcement to prevent the misuse of patent rights to the detriment of a vigorous and accessible market. I have initiated investigations on this issue in several sectors and we will see the results in due time."

Recently, Almunia has expressed his concerns over the behaviours of a number of companies, including Google, Apple and Samsung.

In December he said of Google, "Google is the browser of choice for very many of us; but dominance is not the same as abuse of dominance. Abuse is a conduct that protects or extends dominance by illegitimate means, and we still have to conclude whether this is the case for Google."

That same month he concluded an investigation of IBM, ordering Big Blue to behave better in the mainframe business.

In November he considered the ongoing dispute between Apple and Samsung, and questioned whether it is showing signs of abuse. "Apple and Samsung is only one case where IP rights can be used as an instrument to restrict competition," he said. "Standardisation and IP rights are two instruments that in this new IT sector can be used as a tool to abuse." µ