DOJ Green Lights Nortel Patent Purchase By Rockstar Consortium

The US Department of Justice has approved the purchase of 4000 patents Nortel held to the Rockstar Consortium. Rockstar is a partnership of major technology firms, including Apple, Microsoft, RIM, Ericsson, and Sony. The purchase had been granted regulatory approvals and was approved by US courts back in July of 2011.

This week marks the end of the waiting period for review of the patent purchase imposed by the DOJ giving the final go ahead to complete the deal. The consortium partners announced yesterday that they're moving forward. It appears that the consortium is set to go trolling as well, announcing plans to pursue licensing agreements with companies that are using its technology.

I fully expect hordes of lawsuits to launch any time now. Nortel went bankrupt in early 2009, and these patents were among the last of its major assets. The Rockstar Consortium is shelling out $4.5 billion for the patents. The patents cover technologies for wireless, 4G, data networking, optical, voice, Internet, and semiconductors.

"We are pleased to emerge from this review process, and are looking forward to working with technology related companies to provide them with access to Rockstar's technology.

The entire industry has benefitted from Nortel's groundbreaking innovations, and we are eager to work with them to establish licenses enabling the continued use of this technology."

[via TheNextWeb]