The European Commission on Tuesday ruled that Motorola Mobility (Motorola) infringed the European Union (EU)'s antitrust rules by abusing its dominant position as a standard essential patent (SEP) holder.

The commission said it was abusive for Motorola to both seek and enforce an injunction against Apple in Germany on the basis of an SEP which it had committed to license on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms and where Apple had agreed to take a license and be bound by a determination of the FRAND royalties by the relevant German court.

"The so-called smartphone patent wars should not occur at the expense of consumers. This is why all industry players must comply with the competition rules," said Joaquin Almunia, vice President of the European Commission in charge of competition policy.

The Commission has ordered Motorola to eliminate the negative effects resulting from it.

Moreover, the Commission said it decided not to impose a fine on Motorola in view of the fact that there is no case-law by the European Union Courts dealing with the legality of SEP-based injunctions and that national courts have so far reached diverging conclusion on this question.

SEPs are patents essential to implement a specific industry standard. It is not possible to manufacture products that comply with a certain standard without accessing these patents. As a result, standards bodies generally require their members to commit to license SEPs on FRAND terms. Endi

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