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Nortel delays its patent auction
THE CONTINUED INTEREST in Nortel's patents and patent applications has led the firm to delay its auction of those assets.
Nortel's bankruptcy sale of its patent treasures has caught the attention of a number of firms and attracted almost as many objections because they are considered very valuable. As a result some large players including Apple, Microsoft and Google have expressed interest in the patents.
This interest, which was described as significant by Nortel, has caused the firm to delay its auction for a week. The extension will likely give those interested parties a little more time to hunt down the back of their sofas for more money to bid and shake down their lawyers for more compelling arguments about how the patents should be licensed.
"Nortel Networks Corporation announced that for reasons relating to the significant level of interest in its approximately 6,000 patents and patent applications, it is adjourning the commencement of the auction for the sale of such assets from June 20, 2011 to June 27, 2011," reads Nortel's brief statement.
Google has bid $900m for the patents and Microsoft has objected, claiming that it has a "worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free license to all of Nortel's patents" and does not want Google to buy over 6,000 patents and patent applications because it fears that the buyer(s) might shut out current licensees. Others including HP, Motorola Mobility and Nokia have also raised their objections to the sale. µ
Tags: Hardware
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More than money is involved here, specifically, the trustworthiness of the potential owner of these patents.
Between the potential owners of these patents, which company -- Microsoft, Apple, or Google -- has a reputation for being "trustworthy", of being a good corporate citizen? Unfortunately the self-inflicted tarnished reputations of the first two companies as legal piranhas would effectively eliminate them as potential owners of these patents.
Google innovates instead of litigating (unless it needs to protect itself). It has not shown itself to be an legal aggressor in the marketplace. So Microsoft and Apple can bid as much of their ill-gotten gains for these patents as they like. The DOJ and other regulators would be crazy to let them get their paws on yet more anticompetitive weaponry.
Picture a court ordering a daycare center to hire a serial pedophile to work unsupervised with young children. That is essentially what would be accomplished by regulators actively allowing Microsoft or Apple to purchase these patients. Regulators are supposedly here to protect the public interest, not help aggressive corporate bullies attack and destroy all competitors in the marketplace.
I would think that any regulator that made a decision like this could be liable for the results of their decision, which could be considered a crime in itself (particularly if the palm-greasing that Microsoft did with the ISO representatives is attempted again and discovered here, which seems highly probable, given their last success ramming OOXML through ISO).