Apple and Microsoft Beat Google for Nortel Patents

Chris V. Nicholson, reporting for the NYT DealBook:

Nortel Networks, the defunct Canadian telecommunications equipment maker, said that it had agreed to sell more than 6,000 patent assets to a consortium made up of Apple, Microsoft and other technology giants for $4.5 billion in cash.

The group of companies — which also included Research in Motion, Sony, Ericsson and EMC — beat out Google and Intel for the patents and patent applications that Nortel had accumulated when it was still one of the largest telecom equipment makers in North America.

I’d sure love to know how the sides got drawn in this. How did Google get excluded from that consortium?

★ Friday, 1 July 2011