Apple Secures Portion of 6,000+ Nortel Patents

**Phillip Swanson** · 07-01-2011, 03:03 PM

Nortel's nuclear missel of a patent portfolio has finally been divvied up to the highest bidder. Or should I say bidders?

Apple, RIM, EMC, Sony, Ericsson, and Microsoft made up the consortium that paid $4.5 bilion for the rights to the 6,000 plus patents Nortel held.

The sale includes more than 6,000 patents and patent applications spanning wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors and other patents. The extensive patent portfolio touches nearly every aspect of telecommunications and additional markets as well, including Internet search and social networking.

Google who opened the bidding up at $900 million appears to have reached the end of the baseball bat before everyone else. It is unclear who will get what among the members of the consortium. Common sense would assume the consortium would divide the patent portfolio based on the level of their investment. RIM reportedly threw $770 million into the pot and $Ericsson $340 million, as for the rest it is unknown. With $70 billion in cash laying around, I would venture Apple put in a sizable chunk.

If the number of IP lawsuits lately between major players in the telecom and consumer electronics world are any indication, the owners of these newly acquired patents have a lot to gain from their investment. Particularly in regards to 4G network technology LTE, which 105 of the patents pertain to.

However, the sale is still subject to approvals by the U.S and Canadian courts, and a hearing is expected to take place July 11th. It will be interesting to say the least to see what patents Apple secures when all the legal dust settles.

Source: MarketWatch

**Cer0** · 07-01-2011, 03:29 PM

So Google missed out?

**coolguy742** · 07-01-2011, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by Cer0

So Google missed out?

Id say so

**Cokeman** · 07-01-2011, 04:45 PM

No. Google threw in more than Rim, Sony, & Ericsson. They will get their share of this gold mine. I'd like to know how much Apple, & Microsoft paid.

**sprackleor** · 07-02-2011, 12:28 AM

There is no way in hell you can convince me that Phillip Swanson is a professional journalist.

**jOnGarrett** · 07-02-2011, 01:39 PM

I think it would be best for consumers if these patents were divided up into equal parts and ONLY one part sold to each company bidding for them. it would be too much power for one or two companies to have all these patents. a company like apple would use them to kill any and all competition and we all know who suffers most when there's no competition.

**timwinslade** · 07-02-2011, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by Cokeman

No. Google threw in more than Rim, Sony, & Ericsson. They will get their share of this gold mine. I'd like to know how much Apple, & Microsoft paid.

Sorry I think you will find Google were not in the consortium that purchased the patents and missed out totally. Google only offered $900 million for all the patents the consortium ended up paying $4.5 Billion to secure them all.

**trevorrawson** · 07-03-2011, 02:48 AM

Originally Posted by sprackleor

There is no way in hell you can convince me that Phillip Swanson is a professional journalist.

What would persuade you to write crap like this? I don't see you contributing at all

**bcondemi** · 07-03-2011, 05:25 AM

Originally Posted by sprackleor

There is no way in hell you can convince me that Phillip Swanson is a professional journalist.

+1

Originally Posted by trevorrawson

What would persuade you to write crap like this? I don't see you contributing at all

Agreed

**rkswat** · 07-03-2011, 06:45 AM

Originally Posted by bcondemi

+1

Agreed

Now there's a man playing both sides of the fence lol.

**sprackleor** · 07-03-2011, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by trevorrawson

What would persuade you to write crap like this? I don't see you contributing at all

Did you read the piece? Maybe it's ok by your standards for a professional journalist (professional meaning he actually gets paid for this 'work') to make such basic mistakes such as spelling errors but I expect more. Especially when the primary tool of his trade has a gd spellchecker built into it lol! And not contributing? I disagree. If my comment gets back to the author and motivates him to take an extra minute to edit his article then it was worth it. But having read this persons work before, I can say that he probably did edit this piece prior to submitting and that is what is so disappointing.

**bcondemi** · 07-03-2011, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by rkswat

Now there's a man playing both sides of the fence lol.

;-)

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Nortel's nuclear missel of a patent portfolio has finally been divvied up to the highest bidder. Or should I say bidders? Apple, RIM, EMC, Sony, Ericsson, and Microsoft made up

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