Apple-Based Consortium to Sell Patents Bought From Nortel Networks

A consortium of companies backed by Apple and Microsoft are planning to sell a portion of the patents they purchased from Nortel Networks, reports Bloomberg.

The group, called Rockstar Consortium, has recently been in conversations with possible buyers about the patents, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Rockstar, which also includes BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY), Ericsson AB and Sony Corp., has had little success in landing large licensing deals for the patents, three of the people said.

In 2011, the group bested Google in a bidding war for the patents. They received about 4,000 patents in total. According to the report, they've already sold some of the patents. In July, Spherix said it acquired a suite of patents from the group for $1 million in stock and an undisclosed amount of cash. In addition, Rockstar will receive a percentage of their future profits.


None of the companies or executives contacted would comment on the matter.

Notably, the Rockstar patent consortium sued Google with the patents purchased from Nortel just last month.

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