Smartphone industry bows to pressure Some of the most aggressive legal tactics used in the smartphone industry's patent wars showed signs of abating this week - thanks in large part to pressure from antitrust regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. Early in the week, Samsung pre-empted formal charges from the European Commission by announcing that it would no longer seek a ban on Apple products in Europe as part of its legal campaign. However, that will not let it entirely off the hook in Brussels. European competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia said later that he still planned to issue a statement of objections against the South Korean company over its threat of injunctions to defend its so-called standards-essential patents, which other companies have no choice but to use if they want to enter the smartphone business. In the US, meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission came close to concluding a similar investigation into Google over the aggressive pursuit of injunctions by its Motorola division. Google was set to echo the commitment given by Samsung in Europe as part of its resolution of a broader FTC antitrust inquiry, according to one person familiar with the matter, though the expected announcement was postponed at the last minute. With Apple and Microsoft already having promised not to seek bans against rival products where standards-essential patents are concerned, the regulatory moves against Samsung and Google promised to take some of the heat out of the legal battles. In a further sign that the patent wars may have peaked, meanwhile, 12 tech companies - including all the leading names in the smartphone business - agreed to license Eastman Kodak's digital imaging patents. That set the stage for Kodak to sell the patents for $525m to Intellectual Ventures, which will collect future royalties. The deal ended the risk that the patents would be acquired by only one company - or a small group - and used as the basis for fresh lawsuits against rivals.