DOJ ends its investigation into FRAND patent abuse by Samsung

The Department of Justice today announced that it is ending its investigation into Samsung’s request to ban the import of Apple devices that allegedly infringe on the company’s patents. The DOJ decided to take no action against Samsung, but chastised the company for using FRAND patents to request an injunction against Apple. It also will continue to monitor the situation to see if there are any further developments. While there are certain circumstances where an exclusion order as a remedy for infringement of such patents could be appropriate, in many cases there is a risk that the patent holder could use the threat of an exclusion order to obtain licensing terms that are more onerous than would be justified by the value of the technology itself, effectively exploiting the market power obtained through the standards-setting process. The statement follows President’s Obama executive order that overturned an import ban on iPhone that was granted to Samsung by the International Trade Commission. The ITC found that Apple infringed on select Samsung patents and approved the injunction. The ITC, in recent years, has handed down several injunctions as companies use the agency to quickly block the sales of competitor’s products. The ITC has become the preferred method of seeking an injunction as the system processes requests more rapidly than the courts. Though Samsung only got a scolding by the DOJ, the case does highlight the increasing use of FRAND patents in litigation, which are supposed to be licensed on Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory Terms and not used as a legal weapon against competitors. [Via GigaOm] Continue reading →

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