Microsoft Guards Patents With Lawyer Entourage at Nortel Trial

Microsoft will have numerous lawyers on call at a trial to divvy up the assets of Nortel Networks, formerly the largest maker of phone equipment in North America. When Nortel collapsed in 2009, Microsoft teamed up with fellow tech companies Apple and Sony to purchase more than 6,000 of its patents for $4.5 billion. Now, Nortel's creditors are taking to court to argue who deserves the funds raised from that patent sale. The joint venture known as Rockstar Consortium is defending the patents' confidentiality and will request certain content of around 1,000 court documents to be redacted.