EU: Commission grills Motorola on patent litigation against Apple

The European Commission launched a daylong oral hearing Monday following its complaint sent to Motorola Mobility, the smartphone unit of Google, over allegations Motorola is abusing its dominance by launching litigation against rivals based on its standard essential patents.

The regulator will now press Motorola on the issue during the oral hearing. A spokesperson for the Commission declined to comment on the matter, however, as hearings are confidential.

The watchdog’s probe launched into Motorola in April of last year surrounds a much broader, controversial topic of excessive litigation stemming from standard essential patents. Experts are now studying how such lawsuits could harm competition.

Motorola launched a case against Apple based on the essential patents in Germany. In response, Apple and Microsoft both lodged complaints against the Google-owned firm.

Last week, Samsung Electronics submitted concessions in hopes of ending a similar case against the smartphone giant within the EU.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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