Canada won't review sale of Nortel patents

The Canadian government will not conduct a review of the purchase of patents belonging to bankrupt Nortel Networks by a group that includes Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd, the industry minister said  Tuesday.
    
A consortium of these companies and three others bid $4.5 billion US to buy thousands of Nortel  patents in a recent auction.
    
Under the Investment Canada Act, the government must review foreign investments with a book value of more than $312 million to determine if they are of "net benefit" to the country.
    
"Based on the information provided by the investor and Nortel's 2010 audited financial statements, the acquisition of the Nortel patents is not subject to review for net benefit under the Act," Industry Minister Christian Paradis said in a statement.