InterDigital sale delayed

The auction of tech company InterDigital, possessor of 8800 patents plus an additional 10,000 submitted applications, has been postponed from next week to September to allow potential buyers time to re-evaluate the market in light of Google’s surprise purchase of Motorola Mobility on Tuesday.

Google was rumoured to be among the bidders for InterDigital, but having shored up its patent portfolio with Motorola’s 24,500 patents it seems unlikely the search giant will continue its application.

That leaves Apple, Nokia and Qualcomm as the most likely bidders, according to Reuters.

InterDigital’s shares dropped 23% following the announcement of the Motorola purchase.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that part of the motivation behind Google’s purchase of Motorola may have been interest from Microsoft.

According to a report on GigaOM, Motorola was in talks with several companies parties regarding a sale, including Microsoft. The report suggests it was the risk of Microsoft acquiring Motorola’s patents that drove Google’s outlandish US$12.5 billion purchase.