The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/technology/05google.html?_r=1&src=busln
Google has bid $900 million for the patent portfolio of Nortel Networks, the Canadian telecom equipment maker, as part of a strategy to defend itself against patent litigation.
The bid, which could grow even larger in Nortel’s bankruptcy auction, would be the third-largest purchase by Google, smaller only than its payments for YouTube and DoubleClick.
“Google is basically buying legitimacy and buying a foothold in one part of the cellphone market,” said Robert P. Merges, director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley.