Nortel files for allocation of sales assets

Docket 5307 on the epic web site contains a request by Nortel to have the US and Canadian courts define a deadline and a method for determining the allocation of the funds received from asset sales. The mediation talks which involved 125 individuals broke down after months of debate and thousands of pages of information.

Nortel claims that they cannot move ahead with distribution of funds to legitimate claimants until they are able to determine the amounts of assets that are assigned to each country. Nortel also pointed out that there is a $2billion claim by Nortel US against the Canadian assets. The US group cannot determine what the US assigned assets will be until they know what the assets are assigned to both the US and Canada and also the claims percentage in Canada so that they can factor in the cash received from the Canadian estate into the US estate.

Docket 5266 on epic web site

An ex Nortel employee (Robert Horne) has filed a request to the US court asking for permission to sit on the unsecured creditor's committee and speak for ex employees to obtain better support for our claims and also the access to information from Nortel which was cut off when Nortel cancelled the HR services group. You can check the details at the Epic website (see the right hand column) and look at docket 5266.

We have been cast off by Nortel and left to founder as they continue to pay the lawyers and the remaining team and no one in the court system seems to be worrying about what we are owed and the blatant disregard for any rights we may have had as ex employees or retirees. Hats off to Robert Horne for taking the initiative and trying to get some representation for us in the courts.

Tom

Canadian federal election

With the Canadian federal election coming up there is a big opportunity for Nortel retirees and ex employees to show their displeasure with the current government and work to vote out the conservatives and others who refused to help secure pension funds against unscrupulous companies that let the trusts decline and then went into bankruptcy to avoid having to make up the shortfall.

Nortel also pronounced a death sentence on some of their disabled employees by raiding their fund and cutting off their source of income and yet the government stood by and watched. These people need to go and be replaced with human beings instead of the robotic, pro business, anti senior, greedy charlatans who sit in Ottawa and spew hot air.

Get organized to vote them out. Don't let them get away with what they have done. They are not representing you, they only care for themselves and their rich cronies.

Tom

Nortel mediation talks fail

The Globe and Mail has reported that the mediation talks being held with all the representatives of the Nortel Creditors has failed to reach an agreement. That means this will drag out for a long time. The lawyers will make hay and spend a big share of the Nortel estate as all the parties argue over the disposition of the funds. I'm not sure what this means in terms of the courts. Check the following link and also look at the dockets on the Epiq website to see if the judge makes any new rulings. if I find anything out I will post it.
Tom


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/nortel-sale-mediation-process-fails/article1984248/

Nortel Canada Severance Claims- Misinformation

The following information was posted on the Koskie Minsky site on April 6 2011


IMPORTANT: Incorrect Information Being Circulated re Nortel Severance Claims

There is incorrect information being circulated relating to the claims against the Canadian estate of Nortel. All employment- based claims will be dealt with through a special “Compensation Claims Process”. You will be notified about that process once it has been finalized. Your claims will be calculated for you as part of that process. You will be provided with a claims package which identifies the nature and amount of the claims that will be made on your behalf, and a summary of the data from Nortel’s records upon which your claims have been calculated. Before the claims process can be implemented, court approval will be required. Koskie Minsky and the court-appointed representatives (Donald Sproule, Michael Campbell, David Archibald and Susan Kennedy) will be conducting information sessions and/or webinars to explain the process and the basis for calculating your claims.

Please disregard any information you receive relating to the Compensation Claims Process unless it arrives from Koskie Minsky, Ernst & Young or the court-appointed Representatives. Please note that the Compensation Claims Process in Canada has not yet been finalized. It is not necessary to take any action at this time and it will not be necessary (except in very few special circumstances) to fill out a claim form. Any documentation that is delivered to Ernst & Young Inc. will not be accepted at this time.

Please contact the NRPC through their website at www.nortelpensioners.ca, or Koskie Minsky at 1.866.777.6344 or by email at nortel@kmlaw.ca if you have any questions relating to the Compensation Claims Process. However, at this time, none of Koskie Minsky, the NRPC or the Monitor are able to advise you about the amount of your severance claim because it has not yet been calculated.

Nortel's Last Gasp

Nortel's last gasp

Check the following link to read a story in the Ottawa Citizen outlining the dismal failure that Canadian politicians allowed to happen to Nortel whilst other countries and governments make hay from all the hard work and research that helped fuel the rise of the digital and optical world we live in today.


http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/last+gasp+Nortel/4565852/story.html#ixzz1IkTplylK

Google bid for Nortel Patents

On Monday April 4, 2011, 2:51 pm EDT
TORONTO (Reuters) - Global Internet giant Google has bid $900 million for a warchest of patents from bankrupt Nortel Networks, in an initial "stalking horse" bid that's expected to draw in higher competing offers.

Google, which runs the world's most popular search engine, wants the Nortel patents to help it fight a growing wireless patent war against well-armed mobile superpowers. The company has pushed its Android mobile phone software to the top of the wireless heap, attracting litigation in the process.

"Google is a relatively young company, and although we have a growing number of patents, many of our competitors have larger portfolios given their longer histories," Kent Walker, Google's general counsel, wrote on the company's blog.

Nortel, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2009, was a pioneer in wired and wireless network technology and the assets include some 6,000 patents and patent applications for wireless, data and optical networking, voice, Internet, semiconductors and other technologies.

"As the mobile market gets increasingly litigious it comes as little surprise that Google is interested in assets that could help it defend its Android mobile platform against rival patent claims," said Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight.


Oracle is suing Google over Android, while Apple is fighting Taiwan's HTC in what is widely seen as a proxy attack on Android, which runs on HTC smartphones as well as devices from Samsung Electronics, Motorola Mobility and others.

More established mobile vendors have cross-licensing deals with each other. That keeps their patent fees low but makes entrance expensive for newcomers like Apple and Google.

INTEREST ROBUST

Interest in the Nortel patents has been robust, but a deal was been delayed as Nortel's liquidators and potential buyers haggled over price.

Other expected bidders include Chinese telecom network company ZTE, Ericsson, which bought most of Nortel's wireless operations, and RPX, which licenses patents on behalf of member clients for a fee.

"This is an unprecedented opportunity to acquire one of the most extensive and compelling patent portfolios to ever come on the market", Nortel's chief strategy officer, George Riedel, said in a statement.

The patent sale is a last gasp for Nortel, once a Canadian technology darling with some 90,000 employees and a market capitalization of more than $250 billion.

Nortel, which has sold most of its physical assets, said Google was chosen after multiple bidding rounds involving companies and consortia from around the world.

"The patent war is getting tougher and expensive," said IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo. He said it was unclear how widely the Nortel patents have already been licensed.

Google's bid sets a minimum price for other bidders to use as a starting point for their own proposals.

Nortel will file the agreement to a bankruptcy court in Delaware and outline how it will run the auction, which it expects to hold in June.