Google News Canada Seeks Probe of New Patent Sale
The latest Google news Canada is that the Canadian government may end up reviewing the sale of Nortel Networks patents for $4.5 billion to a group for foreign tech giants led by Google. Whether or not a review is required depends on the amount of the transaction, because Canadian law requires a review on foreign investments and acquisitions which exceed $324 million book value.
The intent of the review is to determine whether the deal will provide a net benefit to the economy of Canada, and the deal must be approved by the industry minister before implementation can proceed. According to people close to the deal,it may not meet the thresholds requiring government review. That's because the patent assets on Nortel's books were valued at zero. The amount of revenue generated by the patents also falls below the review threshold of $73 million per year.