A nice summary of the Nortel Auction
The auction for Nortel's portfolio of some 6,000 tech patents began in earnest on Monday, but also for the most part behind the closed doors of the Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton law office in Manhattan. As yet, most of what is known about the process is via speculation.
One major rumor that is finding its way around the Internet is the inclusion of
Microsoft as a bidder. This may seem only natural; after all, the other major players are top tech companies Google and Apple,
Microsoft's perennial rivals. However, Microsoft's position is that its own "worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free license to all of Nortel's patents" makes the company seem less than eager (why buy the cow, et cetera).
Still, analysts point out that Microsoft may feel that there are other very good reasons to acquire the portfolio. Patent ownership is, frankly, becoming a major revenue source for many in the tech industry; Apple and any number of others have proven that the license or litigation approach is 'not just for patent trolls anymore'.
Also, Microsoft would still certainly find many useful patents among the remainder not specified by its 2006 licensing deal with Nortel. There are a wealth of patents covering LTE 4G,
3G, Wi-Fi, hardwired networking, software, Internet, and more; between freeing the company from licensing complications and opening new avenues for its own development, any tech company would only benefit from the deal.
And it must be pointed out that Microsoft's involvement (other than the aforementioned objection regarding its existing deal) is still largely speculative, resulting from 'reports' that the company leads one of two entities created specifically to bid on the patent portfolio.
One of these "purpose-built syndicates" is known as "Rockstar Bidco LP", according to Maureen O'Gara of SOAWorld, who also stresses that it is not known whether this is Microsoft's consortuim or not. What is known is that this syndicate appeared on the United Sates antitrust clearance list last week -- the same regulatory list that gave the okay to
Intel for the Nortel bidding.
Google, along with Apple, had been cleared in previous weeks. Google was the first player on the scene, with a $900 million 'stalking horse bid' earlier in the year to set the bottom line ($1.5 billion is a much more likely selling price, according to most estimates).
James Lee Phillips is a Senior Writer & Research Analyst for IBG.com. With offices in Dallas, Las Vegas, and New York, & London, IBG is quickly becoming the leading expert in Internet Marketing, Local Search, SEO, Website Development and Reputation Management. More information can be found at www.ibg.com.