Sony Ericsson was given the OK by the European Commission to sell a 50% stake of software developer UI Holdings to Motorola. The commission cleared the deal after it said it found no antitrust problems and received no complaints from rivals.

UI Holdings is the parent company of UIQ Technology, which licenses open user-interface and development platforms to mobile phone vendors.

Under the terms of the deal, UIQ will be vendor and chipset independent, and its technology can be equally licensed to all mobile device vendors. Sony Ericsson has said that this deal with Motorola will make UIQ a stronger player. Both companies already offer handsets that use UIQ based products.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.