RIM may bid for Nortel patents

Research In Motion Ltd is considering a bid for Nortel Networks Corp’s portfolio of wireless technology patents that would top Google Inc’s $900 million offer.

RIM, maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, is weighing an offer that would keep Google from gaining control of about 6,000 Nortel patents and patent applications, said two sources not wishing to be named.

A group of technology companies, including mobile-phone makers, may also bid on the patents to stop Google, two people said. RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, is considering joining the group, one person said. Nortel’s patents would allow buyers to control and license technology used in BlackBerrys, Apple Inc’s iPhone, and devices that run on Google’s Android operating system.

Handset makers may be motivated to pool their resources in a bid to protect themselves should Google try to use the patents to gain influence and royalties in the wireless industry, David Mixon, a patent attorney at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, said in an interview. The portfolio includes patents for wireless-video and LTE, or long-term evolution, technologies.

Google earlier this month made the opening bid as part of a “stalking-horse” agreement that will lead to a June 20 auction if other bidders emerge. A second bidder will have to offer Nortel at least $929 million and subsequent bids must be at least $5 million more, according to the bidding rules.

Nortel filed for bankruptcy in January 2009 after a loss of $5.8 billion as its customers put off spending on new equipment amid the recession. Since then, Nortel has raised about $3 billion for its creditors by selling businesses, with the patents portfolio the last of the major assets to be sold.