Canada

The Canadian government ruled Tuesday its rules governing foreign investment don't apply in the $4.5 billion sale of patents belonging to Nortel Networks Corp, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In a statement, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said the acquisition of 6,000 patents by a consortium primarily of giant foreign technology companies led by Apple Inc. and Sweden's Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson didn't trigger a government review because the book value of the assets was less than the C$312 million ($325 million) threshold established under Canadian law.

A court has delayed a hearing that will decide whether Blockbuster Canada can legally use the brand name as it goes through receivership, The Canadian Press reported. The hearing had been scheduled for Wednesday, but has been bumped to July 26 in a New York City court. The new owner of Blockbuster USA, which did not buy Blockbuster Canada, says it does not want the Canadian retailer to use the name. The receiver in charge of selling Blockbuster Canada has argued that stripping the chain of that right would "devastate" business.

Oil-sands developer OPTI Canada Inc. on Wednesday sought creditor protection in Canada after its senior bondholders agreed to a debt-for-equity swap, as the company struggles to speed up its Long Lake development project, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. OPTI, which would have had to pay $71 million in interest by Friday to avoid default on two bonds, said in a Wednesday release that holders of both its 8.25% and 7.875% second-lien bonds have agreed to convert all those bonds into equity in a reorganized OPTI.

Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., and their bidding allies are due in court next week to close on a $4.5 billion win in the auction of Nortel Networks Corp.'s portfolio of technology patents, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Judges in the U.S. and Canada must sign off on the deal, the largest ever sale of intellectual property, and a transaction that will reverberate through courts around the world as the winners wield their Nortel prizes in infringement cases.

Nortel Networks and its subsidiaries sold 6,000 patents to a consortium consisting of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion and Sony, Datacenter Dynamics reported. The winners emerged after a multi day auction with a cash bid of $4.5bn. In a statement the company said: ‘The sale includes more than 6,000 patents and patent applications spanning wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors and other patents.

Blockbuster Inc.'s Canadian subsidiary on Thursday got a 14-day extension to keep using the Blockbuster name through the middle of July, as the video-rental company sorts out issues on both sides of the border, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Without the agreement, Blockbuster Canada would have been forced by new Blockbuster owner Dish Network Corp. to stop using the Blockbuster name on June 30. After about two hours privately meeting with Judge Burton R. Lifland of the U.S.

Judges in the U.S. and Canada have pushed Nortel Networks Corp.'s warring units back into mediation, urging them to reach a deal over how to divide some $4 billion raised in the telecommunications company's global liquidation, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The prospect that Nortel's creditors around the world could wait a long time to find out how much of the cash they will get is "troublesome," Judge Kevin Gross of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., wrote. The wait is due to a dispute over whether Nortel should divide the cash in court, as Nortel U.S.

Nortel Networks Corp.’s U.S. and Canadian elements are awaiting word about their bid to steer a $4 billion intercompany cash dispute into the courts of their home countries over the protests of European divisions of the dissolving company, the Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. The money was raised in a global liquidation of the Toronto-based telecommunications-equipment maker, which foundered in 2009 and abandoned hope of getting back on its feet in the recession. Nortel U.S. and Nortel Canada say they need an assist from U.S.

Telecommunications-equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp., in the process of liquidating its assets, has asked that an official retiree committee be named to negotiate over ending or modifying health-care benefits the company attempted to cut off last year, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In a filing Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Canada-based Nortel said it had spent $19 million on U.S. retiree and disability benefits since being thwarted by a July 2010 appeals court decision that said companies must talk to retirees before terminating their benefits.

Dish Network Corp. is threatening Blockbuster Canada with the loss of its use of the Blockbuster logo, as part of a strategy to acquire its assets, Blockbuster Canada Co. said, Bloomberg reported. Blockbuster’s U.S. business, acquired by Dish, has asked for bankruptcy court permission to end an agreement with the Canadian unit over trademarks, Grant Thornton Ltd., a receiver for the Canadian assets said in court papers filed in Manhattan court today.