The US Justice Department is scrutinizing likely bidders for patents being sold by Nortel Networks amid concerns the patents could be used to unfairly hobble competition, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. Nortel's trove contains some 6,000 patents spanning wireless video, Wi-Fi, internet search, social networking and LTE. The department's antitrust division is reviewing Google's USD 900 million opening bid for the patents, although it hasn't found major competitive issues that would lead it to challenge its purchase, the people said. The agency has greater concerns about Apple, another possible bidder. Apple has been in talks with the Justice Department to address its concerns, according to the paper's sources. Apple and Google declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for the Justice Department. Others said to be interested include Research In Motion and several patent-licensing firms.
