Apple and Samsung patent wars being investigated by the EU for antitrust violations
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EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia indicated that questions had been sent to both companies earlier this month, but the EU was still waiting on responses before deciding what course of action to pursue. Almunia said that abusing standards (as Samsung is accused of) and patents (as Apple has done) to ban products can be a “distortion of competition”.
Almunia acknowledged that Samsung and Apple were hardly the only examples of intellectual property abuse, but the feeling is that these lawsuits may have a chilling impact not just on the companies involved, but may act as a deterrent to other companies that would like to enter the market.
The EU isn’t making idle threats; the European Commission can fine companies up to 10% of their annual worldwide revenue if they find companies are engaging in anti-competitive behavior. For companies the size of Apple or Samsung, you’d be looking at several billion dollars each.
Could this be the external jolt that Apple and Samsung need to stop competing in the court room and get back to competing in the open market? We can hope so. If not they may get a second, pricier jolt in the year ahead.
source: Reuters via Engadget
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24 Comments
1. taz89 posted on 22 Nov 2011, 14:31 11
lets hope this stops these ridiculous patents battles.
4. tacohunter posted on 22 Nov 2011, 14:35 6
Some may call my comments junk, me I call them treasures. ^^
5. remixfa posted on 22 Nov 2011, 14:48 10
wow the EU is finally doing something RIGHT! lets end this BS for good so we can all just get back to having fun.
lol, tacohunter, spending some time in Belethor's General Goods in Whiterun I see.. lol :)
7. tacohunter posted on 22 Nov 2011, 14:59 5
Oh nice finally someone that noticed skyrim in my comment.
Almost everyone says this if you hit "what have you got for sale". Or the skyforge in whiterun says "Gods be praised". Court wizards: Sometimes say "ah, you wish to master the arcane arts" or "spells and incantations for those with the talent to cast them."
lol, remix explore skyrim more, it's huge!!! (also Oblivion)
12. remixfa posted on 22 Nov 2011, 15:27 3
lol, im a big elder scrolls fan/player. i probably easily put north of 100 hrs in oblivion and 200hrs into Morrowind.
I play between rounds of studys/tests/work/family/clinicals/sleep... what sleep. :) somehow ive still made it to level 22 already, which i didnt think i'd see for a while. right now i only have one house, and i bet u can guess where it is. :)
Im the guy that actually reads a good chunk of those books in the game. That and im neurotic about my house.. lol. in morrowind i probably spent 10+ hrs arranging skeleton bones and armor pieces to make it look like there were dead people in my manor. why? dunno.. it was fun. :)
14. tacohunter posted on 22 Nov 2011, 15:53 2
Althought I'm also a huge elder scrolls fan, I haven't played morrowind. A friend of me, played morowind alot, but he says it's kind of harder then oblivion and skyrim.
Breezehome, whiterun, mine is already fully decorated. And I've made it till lvl 20 now.
A bit off-topic but still fun :)
18. SGSatlantis posted on 22 Nov 2011, 18:18 1
lvl30 here, the secret is smithing all the time:)
24. remixfa posted on 23 Nov 2011, 09:27 2
yes, morrowwind was much more complicated (as in it had options for everything), but that was also its beauty. the complilcation allowed you to do more. Its the game that really started the whole first person RPG craze. Grab the PC version.. its probably like 5-10 bux for GotY edition with the expansions. you wont regret it. There are tons of neat mods out for it. :)
Skyrim is great but compared to its older siblings its very streamlined to allow less advanced players play. Good n bad, like everything. :) Being able to pick it up and just go explore is definately a good thing.. lol.
Im going for a second home in that dwarf city..M..something or another... lol
6. ivanko34 posted on 22 Nov 2011, 14:57 1
Expect nothing from Europe. I live in europe. They have no power. They are just voghons.
Anyway the world is big enough for iphones and android. Customers choose. We don't care of their lawsuits games.
11. -RVM- posted on 22 Nov 2011, 15:23 2
Actually they control the biggest smartphone market in the world.
22. -RVM- posted on 23 Nov 2011, 04:20 2
http://www.phonearena.com/news
/China-becomes-the-worlds-biggest-smartphone-market-in-Q3-outgrows-the-US_id24000
They didn't compare China to EU as a whole, but to a separate countries like USA, Germany, France...
8. XiphiasGladius posted on 22 Nov 2011, 15:02 2
Hopefully this could stifle both companies lawsuits in the long run. . .
9. blade19 posted on 22 Nov 2011, 15:15 1
It could be also a way for the EU to bail themselves out of a hole... As the article mentioned in the last paragraph. Each company making billions and the EU could fine them up to 10%... IF found in violation. EU may just want a cut... just saying...
15. rob5150 posted on 22 Nov 2011, 16:11 0
Blade19... Awesome thought on eu\'s way to bail themselves out of bankruptcy. Brilliant
19. ZEUS.the.thunder.god posted on 22 Nov 2011, 19:37 1
yeah end this stupid court war and make it SGS III vs iphone5 .. but honestly now apple is too afraid of competing against SAMMY in open market
20. ZEUS.the.thunder.god posted on 22 Nov 2011, 20:28 1
till then we can enjoy iphoneporn4s.com, iphonesex4s.com, iphonexxforce.com... but wait... apple might sue you for watching i-shit on these sites lol
23. kamen posted on 23 Nov 2011, 06:08 0
OK, take A+S 10%. That will cool them off. Just don't give the money to Greece :)
