Google Loses Nortel Patents to Apple-Microsoft Clique

At close to midnight last night Nortel announced that the winner was the purpose-built consortium - understood to be dubbed Rockstar Bidco - that consisted of Microsoft, Apple, EMC, RIM, Sony and Ericsson.

The sextet is paying $4

The sextet is paying $4.5 billion for the 6,000 patents and patent applications that span wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, Internet, search, social networking, service provider and semiconductors and touch near every aspect of telecommunications.

RIM said it was kicking about $770 million into the pot and Ericsson said it was contributing $340 million. So that means that Microsoft, Apple, EMC and Sony are supplying the other $3.4 billion, less per head than Google's $900 million stalking horse bid that established the auction's floor.

Google was looking to the patents as a defense against the kind of litigation that has been piling up at its door and at the doors of its Android OEMs.

Both Microsoft and Apple are part of that litigation and were probably determined that the patents not fall into Google's hands. Google has very few patents.

Florian Mueller, the IP analyst who has detailed the 45 patent infringement lawsuits so far surrounding Android, said that "In light of Android's patent problems, it's surprising that Google didn't outbid everyone else. It could have afforded more than $4.5 billion however it doesn't appear to be really committed to Android."

In a statement, Nortel's chief strategy officer and president of business units George Riedel described the auction as "very robust," adding that "The size and dollar value for this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant interest in the portfolio among major companies around the world."

The most read research reporter for the past 20 years

Maureen O'Gara the most read research reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected innovation reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara