STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Bankrupt Canadian telecom group Nortel Networks Corp. on Friday said it is selling all of its remaining patents and patent applications to a consortium including Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion and Sony for $4.5 billion in cash.
Ontario-based Nortel has been selling its operations piece by piece since it filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the U.S. in January 2009.
Nortel has noted a significant interest in its portfolio, which consists of around 6,000 patents and patent applications within wireless, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider and semiconductors technologies. Nortel said it "touches nearly every aspect of telecommunications," including also Internet search and social networking.
Nortel's Chief Strategy Officer George Riedel said "the size and dollar value for this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant interest in the portfolio among major companies around the world."
It was not clear how much each company in the consortium paid in the transaction, but Stockholm-headquartered Ericsson said it had contributed with $340 million.
The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year and will need approval from U.S. and Canadian bankruptcy courts in a joint July 11 hearing to go through.
