I find the catch-22 the nortel patent auction caused fascinating.
From the article: "The complaint tries to use the fact that Google bid for the patents as an extra point against the search giant."
Not participating in the auction risks leaving you open to patent attack. Participating in the auction also opens you up to attack. In a sense not participating wasn't really an option but the act of participating meant the losers potentially risk losing even worse than they would have in the first place.
The complaint tries to use the fact that Google bid for the patents as an extra point against the search giant. "Google subsequently increased its bid multiple times, ultimately bidding as high as $4.4 billion," wrote Rockstar's lawyers. "That price was insufficient to win the auction, as a group led by the current shareholders of Rockstar purchased the portfolio for $4.5 billion. Despite losing in its attempt to acquire the patents-in-suit at auction, Google has infringed and continues to infringe the patents-in-suit."
if Google did bid on the patent, it does show that it has some merit. This whole process is so broken.