The group that holds prized former Nortel patents has filed lawsuits against Google, Samsung and other Android handset vendors.

The Rockstar consortium, which bought the Nortel patents for $4.5 billion over two years ago, is backed by Apple, Microsoft, Blackberry, Ericsson and Sony.

Google is being sued for allegedly infringing seven patents, covering technology that matches internet search terms and advertising.

The vendors are being sued over their devices that run Google’s Android OS.

The other companies facing legal action at the hands of Rockstar are Asustek, HTC, Huawei LG, Pantech, and ZTE.

The group purchased the former Nortel patents in a contest where rival bidders included Google.

“Google placed an initial bid of $900,000,000 for the patents-in-suit and the rest of the Nortel portfolio. Google subsequently increased its bid multiple times, ultimately bidding as high as $4.4 billion,” according to the Rockstar filing.

“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,” it goes on.

The case is filed in the US District Court in Texas.

The filing was first reported by Reuters.