E.U. Rules Against Patent Play by Google’s Motorola Unit

The preliminary finding, which could lead to formal antitrust charges, comes as part of the commission’s battle to ensure that powerful companies with large patent portfolios do not block other companies from using technologies that are vital for smartphones and tablet computers.

“I think that companies should spend their time innovating and competing on the merits of the products they offer — not misusing their intellectual property rights to hold up competitors to the detriment of innovation and consumer choice,” said Joaquín Almunia, the European Union’s competition commissioner, in a statement Monday, before a news briefing on the topic.

The case focuses on how Motorola Mobility sought to legally block Apple in Germany from using a so-called “standard essential” patent that is part of the GSM mobile and wireless standard on which Europe relies.

A statement Monday by the European Commission, the administrative arm of the European Union, said Motorola Mobility’s seeking the injunction against Apple amounted to “an abuse of a dominant position prohibited by E.U. antitrust rules.”

Google officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility, worth about $12.5 billion, cleared its biggest hurdles by winning regulatory approval in the United States and Europe in February 2012.

But in a warning at the same time, Mr. Almunia said his decision to approve that acquisition would not exonerate any wrongdoing concerning patents “by Motorola in the past or all future action by Google.”

In a statement at the time, Motorola Mobility said that it was “confident that a thorough investigation” would show it had honored its “obligations and complied with antitrust laws.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: May 6, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated the timing of the American and European approval of Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility. It was in February 2012, not February of this year. 

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/technology/07iht-google07.html?partner=rss&emc=rss