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Google has bid $900 million for the patent portfolio of Nortel Networks, the bankrupt Canadian telecom equipment maker, as part of a strategy to defend itself against patent litigation.
The bid, which could go well over $1bn in Nortel's bankruptcy auction, would be the third-largest purchase by Google, after YouTube and DoubleClick.
Google has admitted that it is lagging behind other industry players such as Apple and Microsoft in terms of the number of patents it holds.
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Google co-founder Larry Page replaces Eric Schmidt as CEO of the company Monday. Schmidt will continue as the executive chairman.
While it's not a drastic change - Page was already the CEO of Google once, and has had a leading role since the company's beginning - it does raise questions of how the company will change under the new CEO.
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According to data available from the office of The United States Patent and Trademark Google has 630 patents, while Apple has over 3,800 and Microsoft has about 18,000.
The sale, said sources, if successfuk will include patents and patent applications for wired, wireless and digital communications technology.
Media reports say, in the past 12 months, Google has faced 37 patent lawsuits.
Nortel filed for bankruptcy in January 2009 and has been steadily selling off its assets to pay creditors.
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As Google's chief executive officer, Larry is responsible for Google's day-to-day-operations, as well as leading the company's product development and technology strategy.
He co-founded Google with Sergey Brin in 1998 while pursuing a Ph.D. at Stanford University, and was the first CEO until 2001 - growing the company to more than 200 employees and profitability.
From 2001 to 2011, Larry was president of products.
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Larry holds a bachelor's degree in Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a master's degree in computer science from Stanford University.
He is a member of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) of the University of Michigan College of Engineering, and together with co-founder Sergey Brin, Larry was honored with the Marconi Prize in 2004.
He is a trustee on the board of the X PRIZE, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2004.