By Sue Walsh 1

In a move some may call an admission of defeat and others a bold move to encourage compromise and cooperation, Samsung is backing away from the patent wars, promising not to file any infringement suits for mobile essential patents (MEPs) for five years against any company that agrees to its licensing framework.  

MEPs are patents critical for implementing industry standards such as 3G and the video compression technology H.264, which is used by such major players as YouTube and the Blu-ray storage format.

Samsung’s move comes as it faces stiff fines by the European Union for breaching antitrust laws by bringing suits against Apple (APPL). Google-owned (GOOG) Motorola Mobility is facing similar charges.

“Enforcing patents through injunctions can be perfectly legitimate,” said Joaquin Almunia, the European Commission’s vice president in charge of competition policy, in a report published by the BBC. ”However, when patents are standard-essential, abuses must be prevented so that standard-setting works properly and consumers do not have to suffer negative consequences from the so-called patent wars. If we reach a good solution in this case, it will bring clarity to the industry.”

The patent wars have grown to ridiculous proportions thanks to a patent-friendly court system in Texas that has prompted some to see patent claims as a quick payday. Apple and Samsung have been suing each other for quite some time, with each winning bans on the other’s devices, but only the ban against Samsung devices has stuck. The Obama administration vetoed the Apple ban, saying it would adversely affect the U.S. economy, but declined to do the same for Samsung. Currently the two companies have lawsuits against each other either pending or ongoing in 10 different countries.