Justice Department approves Nortel and Novell patent purchase by RIM, Apple, Microsoft

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Though it was slightly overshadowed by the announcement that the Department of Justice approved Google's plans to purchase Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, the government also revealed that it has closed its investigation into the purchase of Nortel's patent portfolio by RIM, Microsoft, and Apple, and the purchase of Novell patents by Apple. The Justice Department determined that the patent purchases are "unlikely to substantially lessen competition," and that they are "not likely to significantly change existing market dynamics." RIM, Microsoft, and Apple joined to form a consortium to win the bid for the Nortel patents in what appeared to be an effort to specifically block Google from acquiring them.