Apple and Microsoft Beat Google for Nortel Patents
By CHRIS V. NICHOLSON
Blair Gable/ReutersGeorge Riedel, chief strategy officer of Nortel, after testifying to a House of Commons committee in August 2009.8:31 p.m. | Updated
Nortel Networks, the defunct Canadian telecommunications equipment maker, says it has agreed to sell more than 6,000 patent assets to an alliance made up of Apple, Microsoft and other technology giants for $4.5 billion in cash.
The group of companies, which also includes Research in Motion, Sony, Ericsson and EMC, beat out Google and Intel for the patents and patent applications that Nortel had accumulated when it was still one of the largest telecommunications equipment makers in North America.
Nortel, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009, said in a statement late Thursday that it had sold its last remaining patents, covering businesses including wireless and networking technology and semiconductors, in an auction that it called “very robust.”
“The size and dollar value for this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant interest in the portfolio among major companies around the world,” said George A. Riedel, chief strategy officer of Nortel.
Nortel delayed the auction once last month because of what it called “significant interest,” and started the sale on Monday. Nortel said it hoped to close the transaction in the third quarter.
Read More...http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/apple-and-microsoft-beat-google-for-nortel-patents/
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