EC competition chief points troll-hunting guns at Nokia

The EU is erecting the “troll-free zone” signs around the tech sector, with European Commission competition chief Joaquín Almunia saying the EC will guard against US-style patent trolling. Speaking to the IP Summit 2013 in Paris, Almunia said the EC approved Microsoft's $US7.2 billion acquisition partly because it did not …

[btrower]

Forbes can kiss my graminivorous quadriped

They are making their case on the a priori assumption that patents are good and necessary. If patents were net positive, they would show their proof. They do not show the proof because they have no such proof. They have no such proof because that proof does not and cannot exist because patents are not net positive.

If it looks like a troll, sues like a troll, and quacks like a troll, then it probably is a troll. Either that or a very ugly duck.

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a big difference between a company that has patents and one who only has patents

The EU's statements would appear to class Nokia as a company who's sole business is to extract money from patents which seems to omit the fact that Nokia kept most of its services when it sold off the devices section and actively licenses its tech such as HERE maps to Microsoft, Amazon and Honda.

Even after the sale Noka will still not differ to companies such as Google, Microsoft, Oracle, etc so singling out Nokia just seems like pointless posturing on the EU's half.

[Sir Sham Cad]

Devices patents

In the case of Nokia a lot of these will be in the mobile telephony arena and many of those will still fall into the FRAND category so surely they'd be limited in how much trolling they could actually do even if they decided to do that. Also part of the Microsoft deal was that MS would get to use those patents in the devices anyway.

There's surely nothing to see here and Forbes are just being shitstirring knobends.

[James 47]

Who the hell are these bureaucrats to tell a private company that's struggling how to run it's business?

Perhaps the lobbying-trolls have been at work behind the scenes

Eurodicks

[foo_bar_baz]

Struggling = permit for damaging and unethical business practices?

One word: SCO.

They are protecting the market from damaging practices to ensure fair competition, not persecuting a single company. Good on them.

[Oh Homer]

Re: "Who the hell are these bureaucrats"

They're the one's protecting competition, and thus consumers, from corporate tyrants like Microsoft.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why beat the underdog?

Just couldn't understand why an established gubernatorial oversight would want to beat the underdog of mobile business? Nokia is the loser here, not the winner.

[gjw]

So...

Who is going to benefit the most of this?

And didn't Joaquín Almunia and Eric Schmidt have a 'special relationship'?

Time for some meaty disclosures.

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The relationship between Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia - a former economist for a large Spanish trade union - and Google chairman Eric Schmidt has already been the subject of concern. Almunia pre-empted a full antitrust investigation by attempting to allow Schmidt to make voluntary concessions. The two chat by text. Last week privacy advocate Simon Davies formally requested the communications to be disclosed to the public, along with meeting minutes and briefing not