Apple, Partners Said to Beat Google Alliance for Nortel Patents
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Google Inc. tried to join at least one other bidder to buy a patent portfolio from Nortel Networks Corp. before losing to a $4.5 billion offer from Apple Inc. and its partners, a person who attended the auction said.
The biggest patent auction in history involved multiple rounds, negotiations that went into the early morning and at least three alliances of bidders who pushed the final offer to more than five times the starting price, said two people who were not authorized to reveal details of the auction.