There’s been a lot of chatter in recent days about Nortel’s auction for its more than 6,000 patents and patent applications, with Apple one of the interested parties. With the auction now closed for $4.5 billion, the winner has been revealed -- and it’s a consortium of six tech companies, including Apple.
MacRumors is reporting that Nortel announced the conclusion of its recent auction for the company’s more than 6,000 patents and patent applications “covering wireless, 4G, networking optical, voice internet, semiconductors and more.” The final winning bid revealed on Thursday was a whopping $4.5 billion, but the dough won’t be paid by just one company -- the patent portfolio will be shared by a consortium of six companies.
"Following a very robust auction, we are pleased at the outcome of the auction of this extensive patent portfolio,” announced Nortel Chief Strategy Officer and President of Business Units, George Riedel on Thursday. "The size and dollar value for this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant interest in the portfolio among major companies around the world."
The consortium includes Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research in Motion and Sony -- notably absent are Google and Nokia, with the former having been an interested party who placed an opening bid of $900 million for the patent portfolio. Nortel Networks filed for bankruptcy in 2009, and their patents have gained a lot of attention among tech companies now that wireless and LTE technology have become big business.
“One research firm has estimated that there are 105 patent families deemed essential to deployment of LTE (4G) technology, with Nokia controlling 57 of those families,” MacRumors notes. “Ericsson is said to control 14 families, while Nortel, Qualcomm, and Sony are each reported to control about seven families. The companies that are part of the winning bid will presumably provide access to these patents to those companies.”
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