While one can question the tactics of Research In Motion's co-CEO< Mike Lazaridis in challenging the sale of Nortel's Wireless business, there is a net benefit.
Nortel was a technology-driven company with many brilliant engineers. Over the decades, their collective work has moved the technology forward, created business opportunities, and established Nortel leadership.
It is now clearly understood that Nortel's key patents should not be sold outright with the business units and should be monetized in some other way: either sold on their own and or even established as an on-going revenue stream.