Andre Yoskowitz
14 Jun 2011 20:03
Google's $900 million "stalking-horse" bid for 6000 Nortel patents has been approved by the Department of Justice, meaning an auction is set to begin next week.
Nortel has been selling off assets since going bankrupt in 2009 in an effort to pay off creditors. Once trading as high as $600 a share in the tech bubble of the late 90s, Nortel shares now trade for 4 cents.
Google first bid on the patents in April but met with resistance from Apple, Research in Motion, Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon, Hewlett-Packard and Nokia, each of which filed objections.
The search giant is looking to acquire the patents (which include hundreds of each for wireless, 4G, data networking, optical, voice, and semiconductors) in a defensive move as it fights lawsuits from Oracle and others over its Android operating system.
Said the company with its original bid:
One of a company’s best defenses against this kind of litigation is (ironically) to have a formidable patent portfolio, as this helps maintain your freedom to develop new products and services. Google is a relatively young company, and although we have a growing number of patents, many of our competitors have larger portfolios given their longer histories.