Samsung Faces $15 Billion Fine in Europe Trying to Ban iDevices Sales
Samsung might be facing a huge monetary fine from the European commission for trying to get Apple products banned in Europe, according to a report.
That report claims that the Korean tech titan could pay up to 15 billions dollars over its attempts to use its "standard essential" patents on 3G to ban sales of Apple's iPad and iPhone in Europe.
Samsung has often used its "standard essential" patents to seek bans, but because Apple agreed to pay a licensing fee to Samsung for those 3G patents, the European commission decided Samsung's requests for sales bans were unjustified.
Perhaps in anticipation of the European commission's move, Samsung withdrew its request to have the iPad and iPhone banned in Europe earlier this month, but it's possible that the request may already be too late.
In a statement Samsung had said "Samsung remains committed to licensing our technologies on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, and we strongly believe it is better when companies compete fairly in the marketplace, rather than in court."
Samsung went on further to say in its statement "In this spirit, Samsung has decided to withdraw our injunction requests against Apple on the basis of our standard essential patents pending in European courts, in the interest of protecting consumer choice."
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