Nortel Networks Ltd. is soliciting bids for its patent portfolio, including its intellectual property rights (IPR) related to Long Term Evolution (LTE), according to a Dow Jones report.

The report suggests the bankrupt Canadian vendor is still deciding whether to sell its patents, for which it is seeking bids of around $1 billion, or to generate ongoing revenues from licensing its IPR.

Nortel admitted last year, after it sold its LTE product line to Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) without including the related IPR, that it might look to sell its patents separately. (See Nortel Could Sell LTE Patents Separately and Nortel Wireless Winner: It's Ericsson!)

One potential bidder is BlackBerry , which has already shown more than a passing interest. (See RIM CEO Calls Nortel LTE Patents a 'National Treasure'.)

Nortel has little in the way of assets left to sell, having offloaded the majority of its applications, enterprise, wireless, and fixed infrastructure lines of business during the past year. See:

• Nortel Profits From Asset Sales
• Ericsson Snaps Up LG-Nortel Stake
• Ericsson Buys Nortel's GSM Biz Too
• Avaya's $900M Bid Wins Nortel Auction
• Ciena Beats NSN to Buy Nortel's MEN
• Genband Bids $282M for Nortel's VoIP Unit
• Courts Approve Genband-Nortel Deal
• Hitachi Takes Nortel's LTE Packet Core
• Nortel to Offload Data Gear to Radware

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading