Research in Motion is mulling the idea of bidding for wireless technology patents held by Nortel—patents for which Google has already bid $900 million, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Citing two people familiar with the deal, Bloomberg said RIM might join with a group of tech companies—including two mobile phone makers—to jointly outbid Google. The patents cover a wide variety of wireless technologies, including those used by market leaders Apple, Google, and RIM.
Earlier this month, Google said it would make a "stalking horse" bid worth $900 million for all of Nortel's remaining patents and patent applications. The search giant's bid would be the minimum bid for an upcoming auction covering 6,000 patents, and any other entity is welcome to bid, provided they top Google's offer.
Nortel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2009, and started exploring the sale of its businesses and assets in June 2009. The company will presumably use the proceeds to pay off creditors.
The patents cover "wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors and other patent portfolios," Nortel said. "The extensive patent portfolio touches nearly every aspect of telecommunications and additional markets as well, including Internet search and social networking."
In an April 4 blog post, Kent Walker, Google's senior vice president and general counsel, said that Google, as a "relatively young company," had not amassed the sort of patent portfolio owned by its competitors.
"But as things stand today, one of a company's best defenses against this kind of litigation is (ironically) to have a formidable patent portfolio, as this helps maintain your freedom to develop new products and services," Walker wrote. "Google is a relatively young company, and although we have a growing number of patents, many of our competitors have larger portfolios given their longer histories.
Last month, Nortel sold more than half a million IPv4 addresses to Microsoft for $7.5 million.
RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is expected to hit stores next week. For more, see PCMag's full review of the PlayBook and the slideshow below.