Google goes shopping for patents

Google has made a $900m bid for the patent portfolio of Nortel Networks, the bankrupt Canadian telecom equipment maker.

The patents could help arm it against potential lawsuits aimed at its Chrome browser and Android mobile operating system, the BBC News reported.

Patents are becoming highly prized pieces of intellectual property. Experts told the BBC they believe the final price could go well over $1bn and may be as high as $2bn.

The amount of money being put up illustrates how fierce the patent wars have become as companies like Apple, Google, Nokia and HTC become embroiled in lawsuits.

Google is not convinced that all the litigation is justified.

"The patent system should reward those who create the most useful innovations for society, not those who stake bogus claims or file dubious lawsuits," said Kent Walker general counsel for Google in the firm's blog.

'If successful, we hope this portfolio will not only create a disincentive for others to sue Google, but also help us, our partners and the open source community - which is integrally involved in projects like Android and Chrome - continue to innovate," he added in a blog post.

Google's $900m bid is a "stalking horse asset sale agreement" which means other companies interested in the 6,000 patents on offer have to put more money on the table.

The sale will include patents and patent applications for wired, wireless and digital communications technology.

"This is an unprecedented opportunity to acquire one of the most extensive and compelling patent portfolios to ever come on the market," said George Riedel, Nortel's chief strategy officer.

Google has admitted that it is lagging behind other industry players such as Apple and Microsoft in terms of the number of patents it holds.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office lists Google patents at 630, while Apple has over 3,800 and Microsoft has about 18,000.

"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," said Google's Walker.