Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL), Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) Battling for Nortel IP

Intellectual property assets as those held by Nortel, and which they're selling through the bankruptcy process, don't come along often, and Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) and Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) have been participating in the struggle to acquire the IP assets, with some having both defensive and revenue potential.

Patents are a source of both, and in the case of Apple and Google, they're more than likely looking the closest at licensed patents related to 4G. At the time they were obtained by Nortel, 4G wasn't at a stage of being commercially viable.

Of the 105 patent families considered essential to 4G technologies LTE and SAE, Nortel owns seven of them.

The patents under the roof of Nortel number approximately 4,000, and are collectively valued at about $1 billion.

Apple closed Friday at $320.56, up $0.80, or 0.25 percent. Google closed at $592.21, up $0.71, or 0.12 percent.