Google has, during the auction of the Nortel patents a eindbod made of 3,14159 billion dollars, or pi. The search giant lost the biedingenstrijd, however, to a consortium of Apple, Microsoft, Sony and RIM.
The search giant has, during the auction of a wide patentenpakket of the bankrupt telecommunications company Nortel Networks in a number of remarkable amounts provided. It was during the biedingenstrijd by Google the amount of 1.902.160.540 dollar provided. This amount is a reference to the Constant of Brun from the mathematics. A subsequent bid had the value of 2.614.972.128 dollar, or the value of the Meissel–Mertens constant. Google would be a eindbod on the Nortel patents have been released from 3,14159 billion dollars, a reference to the mathematical constant pi.
Why Google chose for amounts with references to mathematical constants, is not known. The search giant lost the biedingenstrijd however, after twenty rounds; a consortium of companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Sony and RIM, clear with a bid of 4.5 billion dollars in the extensive patentenpakket to win. The package consists of more than six thousand patents on technology for wireless communication, 4g, voice and optical network technology.