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The EU Commission has begun an investigation into Samsung and Apple regarding the ongoing patent infringement claims and whether they fall foul of EU antitrust laws.
"The Commission has indeed sent requests for information to Apple and Samsung concerning the enforcement of standards-essential patents in the mobile telephony sector," the European Commission said.
"Such requests for information are standard procedure in antitrust investigations to allow the Commission to establish the relevant facts in a case."
While the language is suggestive of an investigation into both Samsung and Apple over potentially anti-competitive use of patents, the description of ‘standards-essential’ patents is more suggestive of Samsung’s pursuit of 3G-related patent action than Apple’s design-based complaints.
Samsung responded to the news by saying the firm "remained committed to fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing terms."
