Margrethe Vestager, European Competition Commissioner, has said that the European Commission has “Not decided” whether to open a case for ZTE’s antitrust filing, lodged last year.
ZTE filed the complaint in June 2014, asking for the EC to investigate the licensing practices of US-based Vringo. At the time, ZTE wrote, ‘As the owner of numerous standard-essential patents on telecommunications standards, Vringo is obligated to license its patents based on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms in the interest of safeguarding competition in the European telecommunications market. Despite ongoing efforts by ZTE to negotiate since 2012, the company has been unable to reach an agreement with Vringo on FRAND terms.’
ZTE is taking action against Vringo in several countries worldwide, including the USA, Brazil and Romania (where a court recently upheld an injunction against ZTE).
