Samsung drops European patent injunctions against Apple

Korean electronics giant Samsung said today that it has dropped injunction requests against Apple products all across Europe, including in the U.K., France, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Samsung requested injunctions on various Apple products because it said Apple was infringing on some of its patents. Many saw that move as a counter-attack to Apple’s repeated attempts to get Samsung’s products banned in Europe and other parts of the world.

In a statement given to The Verge, Samsung said:

Samsung remains committed to licensing our technologies on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, and we strongly believe it is better when companies compete fairly in the marketplace, rather than in court. In this spirit, Samsung has decided to withdraw our injunction requests against Apple on the basis of our standard essential patents pending in European courts, in the interest of protecting consumer choice.

Samsung very well might be dropping these because the European Commission had been investigating the company for abusing its patents. Under European Union law, companies must license certain patents on a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) basis. Samsung did not appear to be giving Apple a fair shot at licensing its patents.

Although this is big news, the war with Apple appears far from over. Even though Apple and Samsung were given final rulings on their $1 billion patent infringement case in the U.S. last night, there are still many other lawsuits that need to be hashed out between the two companies in other countries.

Samsung and Apple smartphones via Andy Ihnatko/Flickr