A consortium including Apple Inc, EMC Corp, Ericsson and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion bought bankrupt telecommunications gear maker Nortel Networks Corp's remaining patent portfolio for $4.5 billion, in an auction that began early this week.

Microsoft Corp and Sony Corp were also part of the consortium, Nortel said in a statement late on Thursday.

The sale includes more than 6,000 patents and patent applications spanning wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors and other patents.

The sale is subject to Canadian and U.S. court approvals which will be sought at a joint hearing expected to be held on July 11.

RIM's portion of the purchase consideration is about $770 million, while Ericsson paid $340 million, the companies said.

Earlier in the day, the company obtained a court order to further extend the stay of proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) to December 14.

Nortel, which filed for bankruptcy in January 2009, has already sold most of its physical assets.

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Bangalore; Editing by Anshuman Daga)

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