Andre Yoskowitz
23 Jan 2014 17:40
The Rockstar Consortium, which is an alliance between Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Ericsson, and Sony, has dropped their longstanding patent infringement suit against Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei.
Both parties have requested the dismissal of the suit, which had accused Huawei of violating patents that the group acquired through the bankruptcy of Nortel a few years ago. It was unclear if the suit was dropped outright or if a settlement and licensing agreement had been reached.
Other lawsuits against Google and other Android device makers remain in play, however. Nortel's patents (over 6000 in total) included wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, Internet, and semiconductor tech.
In 2011, during a heated auction, Google lost out on buying the patents by a mere $100 million, with Rockstar paying $4.5 billion for the portfolio. Google then bought Motorola Mobility in 2012 for $12.5 billion, mainly for their patents.