Patents Are Very Valuable, Tech Giants Discover: Nathan Myhrvold
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July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Patents rarely make headlines, butthey did this month when Nortel Networks Corp., the defunctCanadian telecommunications giant, auctioned off its patentportfolio and drew an astonishing winning bid of $4.5 billionfrom a group of companies that includes both Apple Inc. andMicrosoft Corp.
The sale marks a watershed in the maturity of intellectualproperty markets and a dramatic shift in strategy for technologycompanies. Suddenly these companies are acknowledging thatpatents are a strategic asset worth billions.