(Telecompaper) A consortium created by Apple, Microsoft and other technology companies to acquire USD 4.5 billion of patents from Nortel Networks in 2011 is holding discussions to sell a portion of those patents, people with knowledge of the plans told Bloomberg. The group, called Rockstar Consortium, has recently been in conversations with possible buyers about the patents. Rockstar, which also includes BlackBerry, Ericsson and Sony, has had little success in landing large licensing deals for the patents, three of the people said. Apple and its bidding partners trumped an offer from Google Inc. for the patents. The deal, approved in 2012, gave the consortium access to about 4,000 patents and applications. Rockstar has already begun selling some of the patents. In July, intellectual-property company Spherix said it acquired a suite of patents from Rockstar. Spherix paid an undisclosed amount of cash and USD 1 million in stock, plus Rockstar will receive a percentage of future profits.