Samsung had injunction requests against Apple for patent infringement in the UK, France, Germany Italy and the Netherlands. The keyword here is ‘had’, as Samsung has announced that it is dropping some lawsuits against Apple in Europe. The key thing to note is ‘some’ because Samsung has not thrown in the towel but rather has decided to no longer use fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) patents against Apple in Europe.

The company provided the following statement to The Verge:

“Samsung remains committed to licensing our technologies on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, and we strongly believe it is better when companies compete fairly in the marketplace, rather than in court. In this spirit, Samsung has decided to withdraw our injunction requests against Apple on the basis of our standard essential patents pending in European courts, in the interest of protecting consumer choice.”

While it may sound like Samsung has given Apple an early Christmas present by essentially giving up in this territory, there are potential reasons for their decision behind the scenes. Samsung was being investigated by the European Commission for potentially breaking EU antitrust laws in relation to licensing standards-essential patents.

The Verge notes that it isn’t clear whether the companies came to an agreement on the matter, or if Samsung had no choice but to wave the white flag in Europe. Despite this, the Apple versus Samsung war is far from over. A new trial that involves a whole new set of patents is schedule for 2014 in the US.

[via The Verge, image via gillyberlin]