Apple and Microsoft are among the companies acquiring Nortel Networks? coveted patent assets, while Google and Intel lost out.

Telecommunications equipment maker Nortel filed for bankruptcy two years ago and an auction to sell off its robust portfolio of 6,000 patents was held this week. Many mobile companies were interested in the sale because of just how many patents were coming up for sale.

?I think the size of the holdings certainly appears to be significant and the fact that several companies came together to win the bid demonstrates how important they saw the portfolio to their business,? said Jason Koslofsky, an attorney with ArentFox LLP, Washington, DC.

The sale included patents and patent applications spanning wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice and Internet, according to Nortel.

The company also said the auction drew significant interest, resulting in an unprecedented dollar value for the transaction.

Patent power
After months of speculation about who would acquire the patents, in the end it was a coalition of companies that came together to purchase the patents for $4.5 billion in cash.

In addition to Apple and Microsoft, the group included Research In Motion, Sony, Ericsson and EMC.

RIM said its portion of the purchase is approximately $770 million.

?Given the unusual situation with such a large company going bankrupt it is not surprising that a coalition of companies came together to pool their resources to acquire such a large patent portfolio,? Mr. Koslofsky said

The primary goal for the companies looking to acquire these patents is to build up their own patent portfolios so they can lock down an intellectual property issues as they develop new products.

?The companies want to avoid patent litigation if they can as well as avoid having to make business deals to license intellectual property from another company,? Mr. Koslofsky said.

For Google and Intel, this is a lost opportunity to strengthen their own patent portfolios.

For Google, in particular, the portfolio is attractive because it has a relatively small collection of patents in the mobile space.

Google made a stalking horse bid on the patents for $900 million in April.

An April post on Google?s blog about its bid for the patents mentions the explosion in patent litigation and its need to have a formidable patent portfolio to protect itself.