Nortel, once one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, but now in the throes of bankruptcy, has selected Google’s $ 900 million bet on its patent portfolio, as the stalking horse bid. This does not mean that Google will automatically earn massive arsenal of Nortel telecommunications patents, but it does mean that Google is the preferred buyer.
Google, which has a history of lobbying for reform of patent law, has been the subject of many claims of patent litigation. Relative youth of Google patent means it has much less in the vault of heavy hitters like Microsoft, Oracle and IBM, and the purchase of Nortel’s portfolio of 6,000 patents could provide better protection against patent litigation in the future. It is worth noting that both Apple and RIM have been interested in the wallet, too.
Mashable speculates that the patents – which are almost all related to telecommunications – is used to defend against attacks Oracle Android using Java. We estimate that Google is looking just to meet his future in the networking world. In the absence of patent law reform and the continuing threats to net neutrality, patents have a lot of telecommunications seems a very sensible.