4/10/2011

Google bids $900 million for Nortel pate

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Google bids $900 million for Nortel patent portfolio, will use it as shield against patent trolls (update)
By V lad Savo v posted A pr 4th 201 1 1 2:50PM

uSolo FX Media player review Google and Nortel have agreed on the princely sum of $900 million to start off a "stalking horse" auction -- wherein outside parties are still free to outdo Google's bid -- for the acquisition of Nortel's rather v ast patent portfolio. The sale comes as part of the latter company's bankruptcy selloff and involves some 6,000 patents and patent applications, which encompass both wired and wireless communications, semiconductors, data networking, voice, and the internet -- going so far as to even touch on web search and social networking. The thing is, Google's not really enamored with these tidbits of intellectual property to the tune of nearly a billion dollars. No sir, a rather bitter blog post from the company this morning makes it quite clear that Google's acting in order to bolster its own intellectual property library and to "create a disincentive for others to sue." Both Android and Chrome get obliquely mentioned in Google's announcement as benefiting from the mov e, which should be completed by June of this y ear pending other bids and regulatory approv als. Update: Microsoft has noted that it has "a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free license to all of Nortel's patents that covers all Microsoft products and services, resulting from the patent cross-license signed with Nortel in 2006." That license will also transfer with the sale of the patent rights. All that means is that Microsoft cannot be sued for infringing on that bundle of rights as it is already licensed to use them. T hat means Microsoft is extremely unlikely to participate in this auction -- other than, of course, as a means to prevent others from obtaining the same rights.
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Google bids $900 million for Nortel pate

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joremero 4 days ago

Apple vs Google? Of course I'll go with the G ... it probably cost NT 10 times more (or more) to develop all those patents

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Jebuschr1 st 4 days ago

Another sign that the downfall of humanity will be caused by lawyers. They are already ripping apart the US health system.

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1 The m ost com m ented posts on En gadget ov er the past 2 4 hours.

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Ken Braley 4 days ago

Mariano......Just the Enterprise piece. Nortel consisted of a few different technology arms.

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carigis 4 days ago

if its a cross licensing agreement.. does that mean that it applies the buyer using microsoft's patents as well? I would assume it must go both ways.

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Mariano Salatino 4 days ago

thought nortel was aquired by avaya? ... confused.

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Tyler A hlfeldt 3 days ago in reply to Mariano Salatino

Only their IP based telephony business.

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Tyler A hlfeldt 3 days ago in reply to Mariano Salatino

Only their IP based telephony business.

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InspectorGadget80 4 days ago

patent people like APPLE that sues everyone for every lil piece of technology.

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BigFatDuck 4 days ago

Just a sea of idiots heaping praise on google for buying up patents, as if they won't treat them exactly the same as Apple or Microsoft would. Fools, the lot of you.

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Squeaks 4 days ago in reply to BigFatDuck

Dunno, Engdaget has a point. Google hasn't been very aggrieve with patents like Apple is. Lets see what happens before we start jumping to conclusions. Granted, I'm not holding my breathe. And I know, I know. "Don't give evil, Google."

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BigFatDuck 4 days ago in reply to Squeaks
Apple, just like any other company, becomes "aggressive" with patents only when other companies begin ripping off what they believe are valuable intellectual property. Google, in this case, wants patents so that when they rip off other people's intellectual property, they can retaliate and say "hey, we bought these other patents that you're violating - let's just call it even Steven". Gives hope to patent trolls, I guess. Horde enough patents that one day may become valuable, and someone like google will come along and pay a boatload for it.
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Si Do dman 4 days ago in reply to BigFatDuck

Hit.Nail.On.Head.

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REPLY Squeaks 4 days ago in reply to BigFatDuck

Apple is aggressive period. Google is not.
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REPLY BigFatDuck 4 days ago in reply to Squeaks

You are a damn fool, apparently.
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REPLY Ulenspiegel 4 days ago in reply to BigFatDuck

You're infinitely naive if you think Apple does not buy or otherwise snatch patents, and does not use it as a crank to hinder competition in ever way possible. While I understand your loving passion towards them, it is not the reason for being blind. War with Nokia is a perfect example of what they use their patents for: when sued for ripping off Nokia's intellectual property, Apple could counter-sue them and make things double-edged, although, surprise, before that moment this property didn't seem all that valuable. So... wake up, dude.
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BigFatDuck 4 days ago in reply to Ulenspiegel

That was the internet equivalent of speaking with a mouth full of marbles, into a sandbag.

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Ulenspiegel 4 days ago in reply to BigFatDuck

Well it's better than speaking while having own nick on own mouth, isn't it? You made a spelling mistake in last word, by the way.

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Ulenspiegel 4 days ago in reply to Ulenspiegel

Well, no shame here. I'm not as prideful as to refuse speaking to a big fat duck, after all.

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BigFatDuck 4 days ago in reply to Ulenspiegel

And this is the Internet equivalent of me speaking to a sandbag.

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EmmVeePee 4 days ago

Sounds like Google is essentially trying to stop the Apple tyranny. "Hey Jobs, stop suing people, breaking down doors, and keeping your shit cloaked". I'm glad Google knows that the cost of progress is priceless - something Apple has long forgotten.

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BigFatDuck 4 days ago in reply to EmmVeePee

Give. Me. A. Break. If y

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Ulenspiegel 4 days ago in reply to BigFatDuck

With you trolling around like that? Dude, nobody will ever give you a break. You're doomed to face the annoying truth around for the rest of your life.

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Jerbear3000 4 days ago

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Hello fellow Engadget-ers! I recently wrote a small (and opinionated) blog regarding this issue. If you gentle people could tell me what you think, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks :D http://pantlessnerd.tumblr.com...

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Daffy Day 4 days ago

Google, don't let Apple grab it. Please.

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Patrick Igoe 4 days ago

If this is truly a defensive play, then why isn't Google utilizing one of the defensive patent pools? I'd be curious to know: http://www.applepatent.com/201...

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Wesley 4 days ago

You mean "will use it as a shield against the nastiest patent troll in the world - Apple"

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Foren 4 days ago

Regardless of the real motivation, the sad lesson of this statement remains the same: Companies are compelled to waste a ton of money to buy things that should be (and are supposed to be) worthless, in order to protect themselves. As long as our government allows software and "business method" patents to exist, innovation and entrepreneurship will continue to wither and die. Why should anyone spend his life inventing and building a business only to have it stolen by a rich corporation holding invalid patents that independents don't have the money to fight? One of the biggest disappointments of the Obama administration is its hypocrisy in dealing with this issue. After pontificating about the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship, they fail to address the two biggest impediments to them: 1. Abuse of the USPTO, and the exploding number of patents that should never have been issued. 2. The inexplicable tying of health insurance to your employment, which keeps millions of people from leaving dead-end jobs and starting their own businesses.

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neonspark 4 days ago

BS. Just like they hide their propietary stuff under the banner of open source to pretend it is "open" *cough honeycomb cough* this is just another wolf in sheep's clothing. the reason they want this is to be able to sue should their dominant googlopoly position be under attack. ah so...microsoft like you may say. then again, anybody that's not a fanboy of google realized it long ago.

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Ulenspiegel 4 days ago in reply to neonspark

Erm... You mean, all people are categorized either to have paranoia, or being Google fanboys? I got your point, thank you very much.

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GeneralA merica 4 days ago

I just bid $900,000,001. Go me.

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REPLY Jared Weakly 4 days ago in reply to GeneralAmerica

Headlines! Apple bids $900,000,0001.01. Publicly tells google to shove it. I can't wait to see this tomorrow, will be semi-disappointed if I don't.

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OfficialHype 4 days ago

This comment was flagged for review.

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Foren 4 days ago in reply to OfficialHype
Shove your spam, jerkoff.

Google bids $900 million for Nortel pate

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Jeremy Washington 4 days ago

if i was Google i would never announce this this the deal was complete

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REPLY factsahoy 4 days ago in reply to Jeremy Washington

If I WERE Google

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Tsprague 4 days ago

El Goog, let's say I have a patent for time travel. Can I have $900M too?

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REPLY Leo Tong 4 days ago in reply to Tsprague

Only if it allows the patenting of "patent-pending" patents. :p

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REPLY spilledmy 4 days ago in reply to Tsprague

Time travel for that cheap?
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Joex2 4 days ago

Google copying Microsoft again

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REPLY HisDivineOrder 4 days ago in reply to Joex2

Google doing as Microsoft does because MS won't stop suing their partners. And even being "open" about why. It's refreshing for a corporate entity to acknowledge that it's buying a bunch of patents not for the tech the patents give them, but for the protection having them (and the threat of countersuits) affords them. So copying MS in the sense of protecting themselves, but doing it with style.

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Keith 4 days ago

Patents can't be used as a shield against Patent Trolls because trolls, by definition, are non-practicing entities. Non-practicing entities can't infringe a patent, they don't do anything but sue people. Patents can be used as a shield against competitors. Which is why all of these competitors are bidding so hard. But let's not let the truth get in the way of a really good headline. Carry on.

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Foren 4 days ago in reply to Keith

It's also wrong. His statement says, "Patents can't be used as a shield against trolls because trolls can't infringe a patent." That makes no sense. Patent trolls don't try to infringe patents. They hold them, lying in wait to sue someone who might pay up when threatened with an infringement suit. By buying a patent before a troll can snatch it up, you shield yourself against such trolls. Get it?

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JackInLA 4 days ago in reply to Foren

I got it, you didn't. "Patents can be used as a shield against competitors." When company "A" sues company "B" for patent infringment, company "B" often will look through their patents to see which of them company "A" might be infringing, and

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countersues. So company "B"'s patents are a shield against company "A". "Patents can't be used as a shield against Patent Trolls..." However, if company "A" is a Patent Troll, then they likely don't have a product or service that could possibly be infringing on company "B"'s patents, so they're useless as a countermeasure. And buying a patent before a Patent Troll can get it isn't using it as a shield to fight lawsuits, it's using it as a barrier to try to prevent them in the first place. Similar, but not the same.

ratno k 4 days ago in reply to Keith

Your definition is unrealistically narrow.

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mariokarter 4 days ago

The patent system is truly broken. Its absurd that patents are bought and sold for the explicit purpose of extracting a financial settlment out of a third party. Sure, if there was corporate espionage or something a lawsuit regarding IP is appropriate, but just because a company independently discovered something similair to something your company already discovered???? Doesn't seem like the legal system should be used in that way.

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Foren 4 days ago in reply to mariokarter

The problem is not that patents can be bought and sold. There's nothing wrong with that. The problem is that a lot of these patents should never have been issued. Software patents should never have been allowed, because algorithms aren't patentable. All software is an algorithm. Then we have "business method" patents, which are simply absurd. One of the major banks was advertising that its "keep the change" campaign, in which debit-card transactions would be rounded up to the next dollar and the difference placed in your savings account, had a patent pending. This is like patenting the return of your change only in pennies, or always putting your change in your left hand. That's what America has become: Corporations skimming money off of worthless transactions and "products" and "inventions" with no value. A giant pyramid scheme not backed by any real goods.

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Generalmishmash 4 days ago in reply to mariokarter

But there is a difference between independently discovering and either copying (as Apple and MS claim Google has done with Android) or reverse engineering while incorporating part of someone else's code(as Oracle and MPEG-LA claim Google have done)

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Guest 4 days ago

Kicking a man while he's down... Low...

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N900mixalot 4 days ago in reply to Guest

Judging by your phone image/avatar, you'd know it when you see it. *sigh* (I know I do ... N900 ... mixalot)

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Chris Co nnor 5 days ago

Better Google grabbing this than AT&T.

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