Nortel Patent Sales Approved

Both U.S. and Canadian judges have approved the $4.5 billion bid from the tech group that includes Apple AAPL and Research In Motion RIMM for patents held by telecom-equipment maker Nortel. The move comes just over a week after the group offered more than five times Google's GOOG initial bid of $900 million. Included in the auction are more than 6,000 patents and patent applications. The patents cover a wide array of technologies, including wireless and data networking.