The case was based on accusations that Qualcomm had overcharged
for the use of technology it owned in the standard behind 3G mobile
phone services.
"Essential patent holders should not be able to exploit the
extra power they have gained as a result of having technology based
on their patent incorporated in the standard," said a statement
from the European Commission at the launch of its action in
2007.
The case was launched after complaints by Ericsson, Nokia,
Broadcom, Texas Instruments, Panasonic and NEC. The Commission's
investigations were into whether or not Qualcomm committed an
antitrust breach of the EC Treaty, the document on which the
European Union is based. Article 82 of that document contains
prohibitions against the abuse of a dominant market position.
The Commission has said, though, that all of those companies had
either withdrawn their complaints or indicated their intention to
withdraw them and that because of that it was dropping its
case.
"All complainants have now withdrawn or indicated their
intention to withdraw their complaints, and the Commission has
therefore to decide where best to focus its resources and
priorities. In view of this, the Commission does not consider it
appropriate to invest further resources in this case," a Commission
statement said.
The cases was centred on the practice of setting technical
standards, which is seen as vital for new technological
development.
Competing companies agree on certain technical qualities of
future products so that they can work together. The resulting
specifications are called 'standards'. Most European mobile
telephones all work on other European networks, for example,
because they all conform to the GSM standard.
The complaints claimed that Qualcomm effectively held
competitors to ransom by charging excessively for the technology it
owned that had been included in the standard.
“Standards are established to guide the industry’s technology
development and provide a healthy environment for innovation and
competition,” said Joe Hubach, General Counsel, Texas Instruments
Incorporated said in 2005 when the firms' complaints were first
aired. “We believe Qualcomm has abused its licensing position in
certain standards and has inhibited legitimate competition. If this
conduct goes unchecked, the risk is that consumers in Europe and
around the world will pay higher prices for mobile phones and
services and have less access to innovative products.”
At that time a Qualcomm statement said that the complaint was
"legally meritless".
“This action appears to be nothing more than an attempt by these
licensees to renegotiate their licence agreements by seeking
governmental intervention,” it said.
"The Qualcomm case has raised important issues about the pricing
of technology after its adoption as part of an industry standard,"
said the Commission this week. "In practice, such assessments may
be very complex, and any antitrust enforcer has to be careful about
overturning commercial agreements."
"The Commission has investigated whether the royalties that
Qualcomm has been charging since its patented technology became
part of Europe's 3G standard are unreasonably high. The Commission
committed time and resources to this investigation in order to
assess a complex body of evidence, but has not as yet reached
formal conclusions," it said.
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