we hope this portfolio will not only create a disincentive for others to sue Google, but also help us, our partners and the open source community—which is integrally involved in projects like Android and Chrome—continue to innovate. In the absence of meaningful reform, we believe it's the best long-term solution for Google, our users and our partners
Not insignificant to this logic, and hence to Google's $900 million bid, is the question of whether any patent licenses to Nortel would be assignable to Google if Google is successful in its bid. (Note: the value of such licenses would be considered separately from the value of any patents owned by Nortel.) Does Google's $900 million expressly include the assignment of licenses to Nortel?
Even if the parties' agreement says yes, the answer is non-trivial. The authority on the question of whether and when non-exclusive licenses should be assignable is split, and even the authority on what authority should apply to the question of whether and when non-exclusive licenses should be assignable is split!
To wit, the Ninth Circuit has ruled that federal common law applies to the question of whether licenses are assignable. See in re CFLC, Inc. v. Everex Sys., Inc.. By contrast, California state courts have applied California law. See Superbrace v. Tidwell and Dopplmaier.
What law applies is kind of, um, important. The Ninth Circuit avoided the transfer of patent licenses to a buyer in bankruptcy after ruling that federal common law applied. If California law had applied, the transfer would have been completed.
Nortel filed for bankruptcy in federal court in Delaware. Have Delaware courts or the Third Circuit ruled on this question? Not yet.
I guess we'll have to see how Nortel's licensors feel about having Google as a licensee before we find out whether the Delaware Bankruptcy Court agrees with the Ninth Circuit on this point of law.
In a pure accident of fate, the Supreme Court is right now in Stanford v. Roche considering how the Federal Circuit's application of federal common law to a question of contract interpretation should be decided. Interestingly, not every Judge on the Federal Circuit agrees that there should be federal common law, or at least that state law should be preempted, on these issues. I wonder whether those judges would change their minds if they took also the federal system of bankruptcy law into consideration.
I would think that they would have to move soon on a lot of these patents. As the CBC speculates, this portfolio could be worth as much as 15 billion dollars, US.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/04/05/business-nortel-patents.html
Posted by: Warren Street | 20 April 2011 at 01:22 PM