The European Commission sent a Statement of Objections with its preliminary view that Samsung's seeking of injunctions against Apple in various Member States on the basis of its mobile phone standard-essential patents ("SEPs") amounts to an abuse of a dominant position prohibited by EU antitrust rules.

Joaquín Almunia, Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy stressed that intellectual property rights should not be misused when they are essential to implement industry standards, which bring huge benefits to businesses and consumers alike. These declarations were made in the light of the announcement by the Commission of the sending Statement of Objections to Samsung on potential misuse of mobile phone standard-essential patents. On the other hand, Apple is also under investigation due to the sales of e-books in the EU market.

The Samsung SEPs in question relate to the European Telecommunications Standardisation Institute's (ETSI) 3G UMTS standard, a key industry standard for mobile and wireless communications. When this standard was adopted in Europe, Samsung gave a commitment that it would license the patents which it had declared essential to the standard on FRAND terms. In 2011, Samsung started to seek injunctive relief before courts in various Member States against Apple based on claimed infringements of certain of its 3G UMTS SEPs.

The Commission stressed that while recourse to injunctions is a possible remedy for patent infringements, such conduct may be abusive where SEPs are concerned and the potential licensee is willing to negotiate a licence on Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (so-called "FRAND") terms. The sending of a Statement of Objections does not prejudge the final outcome of the investigation.