Europe probes Motorola Mobility over patents Google's antitrust problems mounted as Europe's top competition watchdog launched two investigations into whether Motorola Mobility, the US smartphone maker being bought by Google, illegally overcharged rivals for its patents. The formal European Commission probes are based on complaints submitted by Apple and Microsoft, the US tech groups, alleging that Motorola was shutting out competition though restricting access to essential technologies used in industry standards. Brussels harbours serious concerns over the damage to competition from aggressive exploitation of essential patents and tech groups are increasingly turning to the antitrust regulator to referee the patent wars raging across the industry. The Commission investigation, announced on Tuesday, will focus on whether Motorola breached its pledge to offer patents in industry standards - such as for mobile 3G standards and video compression - on fair and reasonable terms to all comers. These pledges, made to industry standard setting bodies, are interpreted by Brussels as "irrevocable commitments." In a statement, the Commission said it would examine whether "Motorola has abusively, and in contravention of commitments it gave to standard setting organisations, used certain of its standard essential patents to distort competition." The initiation of an investigation into Motorola will be a blow to Google, which attempted to head off the potential for a formal inquiry during the negotiations with the European Commission to win regulatory clearance for its $12.5bn acquisition of Motorola. Partly under pressure from the Commission, Google made a public declaration of how it intended to use Motorola patents, which largely reiterated Motorola's existing approach. However, this did not prove sufficient to stop the Commission starting a probe into how Motorola deployed injunctions against Apple and Microsoft. Google stresses that its purchase of Motorola's armoury of patents is intended as a means to keep the peace in the patent wars and restore a more healthy balance of power. Google said: "We haven't finalised our acquisition of Motorola Mobility, but will work with the European Commission to answer any questions they might have." "We have longstanding concerns about patent abuses, including lawsuits and royalty demands targeting the Android ecosystem," it added, in reference to Google's operating software for smartphones. Microsoft claims that Motorola in effect attempted to "block sales" of its products such as the Xbox by overcharging for essential patents that were supposed to be offered on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" terms. Apple, in turn, objected to an injunction lodged in a German court against its use of patents that are a key part of 2G and 3G mobile network technologies. As Europe's top competition authority, the Commission has the power to fine companies up to 10 per cent of turnover. In many cases the companies involved in an investigation are given an opportunity to avoid a fine by resolving the competition issues.