The European Union’s competition chief, Joaquin Alumnia, in a speech prepared for EU lawmakers, vowed to stop mobile-device makers from using litigation over standard-essential patents to block their rivals’ smartphones and tablets from European markets. Almunia warned device makers against trying to take unfair advantage of European wireless standards’ key patents, which are “essential” to the telecommunications industry. Alumnia’s statement stems from an inquiry as to whether mobile device makers broke their vows to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to license patents related to European third-generation wireless standards on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory, or FRAND, terms.
In his speech, Alumnia also addressed the EU regulator’s probes into interbank lending rates and into efforts to standardize online payments throughoutEurope. The regulator’s investigations focused on concerns that several major banks may have fixed the Euro Interbank Offered Rate in violation of the antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices. Almunia further expressed concerns that the process the European Payments Council was using to standardize online payments was not transparent enough; might yield standards that blocked some innovative providers from the market; and was lagging on developing mobile processing systems.