Nortel closes sale of patent portfolio for US$4.5 billion

Lawyers Michael J. Lang, Adrienne F. Oliver, David J. Bannon, Troy Ungerman, James R. Cade, Kevin McPhee, Evan Cobb, Christopher N. Hunter, Jeremy Grushcow, Kevin Ackhurst

On June 30, 2011, Nortel Networks Corporation, its subsidiary Nortel Networks Limited and certain of its other subsidiaries (collectively, Nortel) concluded a successful auction of all Nortel’s remaining patents and patent applications. After a four-day auction, Rockstar Bidco, LP, a consortium of Apple, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research in Motion, Sony and EMC emerged as the winning bidder with a cash purchase price of US$4.5 billion. This transaction is considered to be the highest value sale of technology patents in history.

The sale includes more than 6,000 patents and patent applications spanning wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors and other patents. The extensive patent portfolio touches nearly every aspect of telecommunications and additional markets as well, including Internet search and social networking.

The transaction closed on July 29, 2011.

Nortel was represented in Canada by a team from Norton Rose OR LLP consisting of Michael Lang, James Cade, Troy Ungerman, Jeremy Grushcow and Kevin McPhee (M&A), Derrick Tay, Jennifer Stam and Evan Cobb (insolvency & restructuring), Kevin Ackhurst (Competition), Chris Hunter (intellectual property), David Bannon (employment) and Adrienne Oliver (tax).