Mountain View, Calif. – Google (NASD: GOOG) announced on Monday that it
has submitted a $900 million bid for a suite of patents owned by Nortel that
cover a range of wired, wireless and digital communication technologies. The
deal includes 6,000 patents and patent applications spanning wireless, wireless
4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors
and other patent portfolios.
Nortel said the agreement with Google follows a
"confidential, multi-round bidding process involving several interested
companies from around the world."
Google said the bid to acquire Nortel’s
patents comes during a time when the tech world has seen "an explosion in
patent litigation," and that despite its having "long argued in favor
of real patent reform… one of a company’s best defenses against this kind of
litigation is (ironically) to have a formidable patent portfolio."
"Google
is a relatively young company, and although we have a growing number of
patents, many of our competitors have larger portfolios given their longer
histories," Kent Walker, Google senior vice president and general counsel,
wrote on the company’s blog.
Related Links:
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(Google blog)
