July 7, 2011



Douglas New is a senior partner with Fasken Martineau's Competition/Antitrust practice group.

Excerpt

But in the case of Nortel, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2009, the patent sale may escape scrutiny because the book value of the assets could be much less than the auction price, according to one legal expert.

"In this particular case ... the book value could be more nominal than substantive," said Douglas New at law firm Fasken Martineau.

"Regardless of what someone is willing to pay for them, even if they're paying in the billions of dollars, one still has to look to see what the book value of those assets is."

He said that if that value misses the threshold then "barring a national security issue, it's not going to be subject to review by the minister."