Recent MatterIrell Advises Research In Motion Limited in Nortel Patent Deal
Irell & Manella LLP advised telecommunication and wireless device company Research In Motion Limited (RIM) in the purchase of patents from Nortel Network Corp. Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009, and the sale was by far the largest asset auction in the proceedings stemming from its bankruptcy. RIM and a consortium of five other leading technology companies received approval from a federal bankruptcy court in Delaware to purchase a portfolio of 6,000 patents from Nortel. The $4.5 billion deal was one of the largest ever public sales of intellectual property assets. The sale spanned wireless, 4G, data networking, optical, voice, Internet and semiconductor technologies.
Irell attorneys Eric Webber, Alan Heinrich and Joel Rabinovitz advised RIM.