U.S. DOJ to clear Nortel patent purchase

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 09 Feb 2012 12:36 User comments (2)

The U.S. Department of Justice is prepared to clear the massive bid for Nortel patents from a group of tech giants.

Apple, Microsoft, EMC, RIM and Sony grouped together to outbid Google on the 6000 patents, paying a hefty $4.5 billion. Google had got the ball rolling by offering $900 million for the rights to the patents.

The patents covered a wide range of topics from wireless, data and optical networking, voice, Internet and semiconductors.

Last July, the DOJ let it be known that they were "intensifying" investigations into what the patents will be used for by their new owners. Specifically, the DOJ wanted to know whether the patents were purchased with the sole intention of starting lawsuits against Google over the Android platform. The DOJ reserved the right to place rules and conditions on the sale depending on what the answers are from the companies involved.

Google, in their initial bid, said they were buying the patents to protect themselves from litigation.

Tags: Sony Apple Microsoft Google Patents Nortel DOJ

<Report: Google preparing to disrupt the cloud storage market >DOJ to also clear Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility

2 user comments

19.2.2012 18:31

Notcow

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Wait, it's not illegal for all of these companies to gang up on poor Google, which is trying to protect itself, and Google is being still being required to FRAND all of the patents they're getting from Motorola? That reeks.

213.2.2012 09:50

pmshah

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Looking at their past records (M$ and apple in particular) - suing Google and Android based product manufacturers appears to be the SOLE motive behind this acquisition. DOJ should get written commitment from the concerned parties in this regard before granting approval. So what was the going rate for those charlies at DOJ?

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U.S. DOJ to clear Nortel patent purchase

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