7:10 AM -- The US$4.5 billion sale of Nortel Networks Ltd. 's patents to the rockstar consortium of six companies is still being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice , according to a report from the legal news outlet, Law360.

Speaking on a panel at the annual conference for the Licensing Executives Society in San Diego on Monday, David Kaefer, general manager of intellectual property licensing for Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), reportedly said the group was awaiting guidance on the deal from the DoJ. (See Done Deal for Nortel Patents? , Nortel Sells Patents for $4.5B and Nortel Patent Sale Closes.)

Microsoft is one of the members in the consortium that acquired Nortel's patents. The other members are Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC), BlackBerry and Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE). The patent sale closed on July 29. So, what is the DoJ still investigating? And how significant is this probe in terms of the effect it could have on the companies that acquired the patents?

— Michelle Donegan, European Editor, Light Reading Mobile