On Wednesday, February 26, the [South] Korean Fair Trade Commission
ruled
against Apple’s compaint against Samsung. In 2012, Apple had asserted that
Samsung was misusing standard-essential patents for 3G technology, stating that
the patents were supposed to be licensed under fair, reasonable, and
non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. The KFTC responded to these assertions by
saying that Samsung’s court actions do not break Korean antitrust law.
This decision runs counter to identical investigations
conducted by agencies in other countries. Both the U.S. Department of Justice
and the European Commission have voiced their concern over Samsung’s potential
abuse of FRAND patents.
I had discussed Apple’s ongoing litigation against Samsung
in a previous blog post, wherein I expounded on the Department of Justice’s
decision to drop a similar investigation of Samsung, potentially as a form of
foreign policy. It appears that the KFTC’s decision may have had more of a
basis to throw out this claim, compared to its US and EU counterparts, as it may have determined that Samsung does
not have monopoly power, due to over 50 companies holding a plethora of
3G-related SEPs.
I further discuss my thoughts on this topic at the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y8EXrjPS30
I further discuss my thoughts on this topic at the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y8EXrjPS30
Hi Albert! I think it's interesting how Samsung wins its case in South Korea but not in the US or the EU. Another blog post I read last week commented on the potential of US courts being biased toward Apple in these Apple vs. Samsung cases because Apple is a US company. I wonder if there's any possibility that this is happening in this case as well? After all, Samsung is a South Korean company. However, I don't think I would be able to make an informed opinion of this without fully diving into South Korea's antitrust laws. Nevertheless, the theme of home court advantage still seems prevalent. Whether it's because the company's lawyers are more familiar with the laws in their country or if there really is some favoritism going on, it seems location continues to be an important factor in lawsuits. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteHey Amy, I definitely think that "home court advantage" is one of the main considerations that companies make when deciding where to file lawsuits. Consciously or not, I think that judges think about the overall impact that a given suit will have on their local economy, and that this plays a factor in their ruling.
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