A consortium of six global technology heavyweights has emerged as the winning bidder for the remaining patents belonging to the once-great Nortel Networks Corporation.
After an extensive auction, the consortium comprising Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion and Sony outbid the likes of Google and Intel with a winning bid of US$4.5 billion.
The sale includes over 6,000 patents and patent applications covering the information and communication technologies (ICT) industry, including telecommunications, internet search and social networking, mobile, LTE and data networking as well as optical, internet, service provider, semiconductors and other patent portfolios.
"Following a very robust auction, we are pleased at the outcome of the auction of this extensive patent portfolio," said George Riedel, chief strategy officer and president of business units at Nortel. "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 sale is subject to applicable Canadian and US Court approvals which will be sought at a joint hearing expected to be held on July 11, 2011.
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion announced separately that its portion of the purchase price is approximately $770 million.
Ericsson has declared its contribution to be worth £340 million. Kasim Alfalahi, chief intellectual property officer at Ericsson, says: "The Nortel patent portfolio reflects the heritage of more than 100 years of its R&D activities and includes some essential patents in telecommunications and other industries. We believe the consortium is in the best position to utilize the patents in a manner that will be favorable to the industry long term."
Nortel has also obtained an order from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice further extending the stay of proceedings that was previously granted by the Canadian Court to December 14, 2011. This will provide stability to the Nortel companies to continue with their divestiture and other restructuring efforts and to continue to work toward the development of a plan of arrangement under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).
