DoJ approves sale of Nortel and Novell patents

posted by Michael H. / Feb 13, 2012, 5:35 PM

DoJ approves sale of Nortel and Novell patents

In the same filing as the one approving the sale of Motorola to Google, the DoJ also announced the approval of the acquisition of Nortel patents by Rockstar Bidco and Novell patents by Apple that had been under investigation.

The Nortel patents were part of the company's bankruptcy sale, and the approval paves the way for purchase of the patents by Rockstar Bidco, which is the partnership created by RIM, Microsoft and Apple expressly for this purchase. You may remember that there was quite a back and forth on this one with Google claiming that the patents would be used by the competition to take down Android, while Microsoft claimed that Google had been offered a chance to be part of the partnership, but turned it down. The purchase was made by Rockstar Bidco for $4.5 billion.

The Novell patents have been approved for sale to the partnership of Apple, Oracle, and EMC Corp.

The same statements from the Google/Motorola acquisition were applied to both of these purchases as well. The DoJ says that the purchases are not likely to lessen competition, and although there is a possibility of exploitation of the patents, that possibility doesn't mean that the acquisitions must be denied. As it did with Google, the DoJ specifically pointed out that "Apple would likely benefit significantly through increased sales of its devices if it could exclude Android-based phones from the market or raise the costs of such phones through IP-licenses or patent litigation." However, the Novell patents are unlikely to be exploited in that way, and a concerted effort by the companies behind Rockstar Bidco would certainly raise red flags by the DoJ, so the acquisitions have all been approved.

source: DoJ

Options

5 Comments

1. squallz506

Posts: 1075; Member since: Oct 19, 2011

i read the source, Rockstar bidco is getting 6000 patents, apple is getting novell. google would be acquiring 17000 patents and the IP rights to 6800 applications, relevant to wireless communications. looks to me like google picked the right buyout to participate in.

posted on Feb 13, 2012, 5:42 PM 0

2. theBankRobber

Posts: 682; Member since: Sep 22, 2011

These are the LTE patents Apple wanted most, now they have a new bread of LTE infringement lawsuits under way.

posted on Feb 13, 2012, 7:49 PM 1

3. G2Noobin

Posts: 81; Member since: Dec 17, 2011

LOL there products suck ass... and i realized the apple warranty is none better than any other phone lmfao at crabspples users.

posted on Feb 13, 2012, 9:01 PM 0

4. bayusuputra

Posts: 963; Member since: Feb 12, 2012

hahaha! it will be so damn funny if apple decided to sue for LTE, i mean, c'mon, iPhone won't have LTE in the next 5 years.. that's how apple is moving in terms of technology..

posted on Feb 13, 2012, 9:14 PM 0

5. MorePhonesThanNeeded

Posts: 645; Member since: Oct 23, 2011

"the DoJ specifically pointed out that "Apple would likely benefit significantly through increased sales of its devices if it could exclude Android-based phones from the market or raise the costs of such phones through IP-licenses or patent litigation." However, the Novell patents are unlikely to be exploited in that way.." What in Apple's history allows the DoJ to even come to this conclusion and say that with a straight face? Such a farce it's not even funny.