“Since [Nortel filed for bankruptcy, the company] has been selling off its assets to pay back its creditors, and is now selling one of its most valued: its expansive patent portfolio, a century’s worth of IP ‘spanning wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors and other patent portfolios,’” Parr reports. “That’s part of why Google has entered into a stalking horse sale agreement with Nortel worth $900 million in cash.”
Parr reports, “Google has been sued on multiple occasions for patent infringement, but let’s be clear: The Nortel deal is all about Oracle, which sued Google last year for IP infringement related to Android’s use of Java (a technology Oracle now owns, thanks to its acquisition of Sun Microsystems). Things haven’t looked good for Google in its patent defense, so acquiring a comprehensive array of telecommunications patents could give it leverage in the Oracle lawsuit. It also gives Google additional protection from any company that wants to sue it in the future. And with tech companies like IBM and Microsoft being granted 3,000 to 5,000 patents per year, it’s easy to see why Google feels the need to play catch-up.”
Read more in the full article here.
Larry Dignan reports for ZDNet, “Nortel said there were multiple rounds of bidding from several parties. Google and Nortel have entered a so-called ‘stalking horse asset sale,’ which allows other qualified bidders to top the search giant’s bid.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Do no evil or, failing that, try to buy your way out of trouble.
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