Apple v. Samsung — no injunctions for Samsung either (at least in Europe)

Samsung announced today that it will no longer be seeking injunctions against Apple’s iphones in European courts based on claims that those phones infringed Samsung’s “standards essential patents” covering certain 3G cellular networking technologies. Samsung says that it’s doing so for the good of consumers. Um, maybe. A more likely explanation is that it fears possible action by EU antitrust officials, who are increasingly wary of injunctions in patent cases involving patents that are “essential” to industry standards.

This is an important development in the Apple/Samsung fracas, because it deprives Samsung of a bit of leverage that it thought it had. Stay tuned.