It seems that things are not going too well for Samsung – in Germany, at least, where the European Union just announced whether it would look further into Samsung’s tablet devices, and investigate as to whether the South Korean conglomerate was trying to hinder competitors in an illegal manner, not to mention having a German court uphold its ruling to block sales of select tablet models from Samsung. This strategic patent war with Apple is getting more and more bitter, and the EU’s antitrust watchdog has grounds for suspicion that the South Korean company might just be dabbling with illegal or unfair means by using law suits over key patents on 3G wireless technology to hinder competitors such as Apple.
EU patent rules do state that a company which hold patents for standardized products need to license them out indiscriminately (now that is certainly a keyword here) without slapping an insane price tag on it, and should Samsung be found guilty of restraining competition in an unfair manner, the company might actually be fined a maximum of 10% of its annual revenue which are related to the investigation. That’s certainly a big deal, so hopefully everything will get sorted out the right way soon. As consumers, I think I speak for the majority when I say that we just want to see the entire thing resolved in an amicable manner, and we love our tablets to bits, so manufacturers out there, do your best and create a healthy, competitive atmosphere!
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