Google's recent $900 million bid for Nortel's patent portfolio has been cleared by a U.S. antitrust committee within the Justice Department. The bid had seen some opposition from a number of Google's competitors, including Microsoft and Nokia.

The 6,000 patents for sale cover a range of wireless and communication technologies, including Wi-Fi and fourth generation technologies like LTE. Google is looking to beef up its portfolio of patents in order to protect itself from patent litigation suits, and the Nortel patent portfolio certainly has appeal. Back in April, the company stated that "One of a company's best defenses against this kind of litigation is (ironically) to have a formidable patent portfolio, as this helps maintain your freedom to develop new products and services," in reference to patent lawsuits.

Google's bid has not gone unnoticed and without opposition though. Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, HP, and Nokia all filed objections to Google purchasing the patent portfolio. The main complaint the competitors had was that the suite of patents would give Google an unfair advantage over its rivals.

According to the Wall Street Journal, both Apple and RIM are in talks with the Justice Department about bids of their own for the patent portfolio.

By: DocMemory
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