South Korea's antitrust authority said Thursday it reopened a review on the merger between Microsoft Corp. and Nokia's devices and services business to preempt any potential market distortions and ensure fair competition.
In the "consent decree process" expected to last at least three months, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) aims to obtain assurances that Microsoft will not use the merger to discriminate against local mobile phone makers by exploiting its extensive standard essential patents (SEP), which can affect the operations of Android phones.