DOJ Clears Google’s Bid for Nortel Patents
U.S. antitrust enforcers have given Google Inc. a go-ahead to pursue its $900 million opening bid for a trove of high-tech patents being sold next week by Nortel Networks Corp., people familiar with the matter said.
After an antitrust review, the Justice Department concluded that Google’s potential ownership of the patents wouldn’t raise any major competitive concerns, these people said. The clearance could give Google’s bid a leg-up against rivals, part of its effort to acquire an arsenal of patents that could help it ward off lawsuits by rivals.
