BRUSSELS, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The European Commission on

Wednesday scrapped draft rules regulating technology patents, AI

and consumer privacy on messaging apps, saying it did not expect

them to receive the green light from EU lawmakers and countries.

All three proposals had faced intense lobbying by industries

and Big Tech.

Among them was a rule aimed at regulating standard essential

patents used in technologies for telecom equipment, mobile

phones, computers, connected cars and smart devices, proposed

two years ago to end costly and lengthy litigation.

The EU executive said in its 2025 work programme it saw no

foreseeable agreement, and would assess whether another proposal

should be tabled.

The patent rule pitted firms such as Nokia,

Ericsson and Qualcomm, which own valuable essential

patents, against carmakers, Apple and Google, which want to use

them, with the dispute on the level of royalties to be paid.

Nokia - which together with Ericsson and Siemens

had opposed the draft rules - cheered the move to scrap them.

"It would have had an adverse impact on the global

innovation ecosystem, in particular the incentives for European

companies to invest billions of euros each year in R&D," Nokia

said in a statement.

The Fair Standards Alliance, whose members include BMW

, Tesla, Alphabet's Google and

Amazon ( AMZN ), said it was stunned by the Commission's

decision.

"The withdrawal sends a terrible signal to innovative

businesses who rely on a predictable and fair SEP licensing

system," the lobbying group said.

The second draft rule binned by the Commission, the AI

Liability Directive, proposed in 2022, would have allowed

consumers to sue for compensation for harm due to the fault or

omission of a provider, developer or user of AI technology.

The EU executive said it would assess whether to come up

with another proposal.

"We should not assume this move signals a change in policy

direction for the Commission when it comes to the regulation of

AI," said Rod Freeman, head of law firm Cooley's global products

practice.

"We have ground-breaking new laws on the books now in Europe

governing AI, the impact of which we are still yet to see," he

said.

The EU executive also ditched a plan which would require

Meta Platforms' ( META ) WhatsApp and Microsoft ( MSFT ) unit

Skype to be subjected to the same tough rules as telecoms

providers regarding users' privacy.

The rule known as the eprivacy regulation, which dates from

2017 and has been in limbo since 2020, sought to create a level

playing field between Big Tech and telecoms operators.

It has been stymied by disagreements between EU countries on

rules for cookies tracking users' online activities and

provisions on detecting and deleting child pornography.

The Commission said no agreement was expected from

co-legislators, and that the proposal is "outdated in view of

some recent legislation".