Judges in the US and Canada yesterday approved the US$4.5 billion patent sale of Nortel’s patent assets to a consortium of companies including Apple, Microsoft, RIM, Ericsson and Sony. The Wall Street Journal reports that the sale of Nortel’s portfolio of technology patents means the liquidating telecommunications maker will have more than US$7.5 billion in cash to cover its bills, a few billion more than anyone expected just weeks ago. A four-day auction in New York closed with a price five times the stalking-horse bid from Google, sending the prices on Nortel’s bonds above 100 cents on the dollar.