Microsoft and Apple sue Google in patent wars The consortium own thousands of patents bought from Nortel when the company went bankrupt, and is using then to sue Google, Asus, HTC, Huawei, LG, Pantech, Samsung, and ZTE. Rockstar is owned jointly by Apple, Blackberry, Ericsson, Microsoft, and Sony, and has filed suit in US District Court in Texas. The move comes almost two years after Rockstar bought more than 6,000 patents from bankrupt Canadian telco giant Nortel for $4.5 billion in an auction where Google has also been a bidder. Rockstar has now accused Google of infringing seven of the Nortel patents, covering technology that helps match internet search queries with relevant advertising, according to Reuters. John Veschi, Rockstar's CEO, told Wired magazine: "Pretty much anybody out there is infringing. It would be hard for me to envision that there are high-tech companies out there that don't use some of the patents in our portfolio. The lawsuit said: "Despite losing in its attempt to acquire the patents-in-suit at auction, Google has infringed and continues to infringe." Rockstar has also filed a complaint against Samsung Electronics and HTC for infringement of seven other patents, while Asus is alleged to have infringed six of the patents.