Apple and Microsoft Consortium Sells Patents Behind Android Lawsuits

A consortium that includes Apple, Microsoft, Sony and BlackBerry has sold 4,000 patents that were used in lawsuits against makers of Android devices, among others. The purchaser agrees to license the patents on reasonable terms.

It concerns the sale of 4,000 of the total of 6,000 patents that the Rockstar consortium obtained at an auction of Nortel’s patent portfolio. The Canadian company went bankrupt in 2010. The patents describe technology in areas such as wireless communication, 4G, voice services and optical network technology. The patents are now in the hands of RPX Clearinghouse, which promises to license the patents under frand terms. A group of about thirty companies, including Google and Cisco, will in any case pay for licenses for the technology.

According to The Wall Street Journal, RPX will pay $900 million, or $738 million, for the patents. The Rockstar consortium, which includes Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Ericsson and BlackBerry, paid 4.5 billion dollars in 2010, 3.69 billion euros.

Rockstar used the patents in a number of extensive lawsuits concerning Android. A settlement with Google was already reached in November and now the legal dispute with Cisco has officially come to an end. The sale to RPX probably also averted lawsuits against other manufacturers.

Cisco calls the move “constructive for the entire industry,” while Microsoft speaks of a demonstration that “the patent system works to promote innovation.”