PATENT WAR : ALMUNIA TELLS SAMSUNG TO IMPROVE ITS PROPOSALS.

The commitments that Samsung presented to the European Commission with the aim of correcting its anti-competitive practices involving abusive court orders against its competitors - especially Apple - are not acceptable to its competitors. Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia advised the firm, on 9 December, that it would have to improve the commitments it proposed last October because the executive's market test was not conclusive. "We have market-tested these commitments and will take account of the feedback when we discuss with Samsung possible improvements to their commitments in the coming weeks," Almunia said at a conference in Paris on intellectual property and competition.

The executive opened, in January 2012, an in-depth investigation to check whether the South Korean manufacturer was abusing its essential technology patent rights related to mobile and wireless communications.

ABUSIVE COURT ORDERS

At issue are the applications for injunctive relief submitted by Samsung in several member states over more than a two-year period to challenge Apple's use of certain functions...