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Two courts overseeing the bankruptcy filing of Nortel Networks Corp. have approved the sale of the company's wireless assets to Telefon AB LM Ericsson ERIC-Q.

In a joint hearing Tuesday before courts in Ontario and Delaware, a U.S. lawyer for Nortel said the auction of the assets had been one of the most successful ever.

James Bromley said that Friday's auction for the assets lasted 13 hours and involved six rounds of bidding among three bidders, with Ericsson coming out on top at midnight.

The auction “yielded substantial results” he said. In a veiled reference to objections raised by Research In Motion Ltd. RIM-T , Mr. Bromley said the auction process started on June 19 and that by then “the public was fully aware of what was being proposed.”

No one from RIM showed up to object to the sale.

Derrick Tay, a Canadian lawyer representing Nortel, came out swinging against RIM during the hearing, accusing the company of basing its complaints about the auction on “misinformation and untruths.”

Mr. Tay told the courts that RIM had not deigned to show up, and “chose to fight in the court of public opinion.” He urged the court not to allow RIM to derail the sale process, given that the company “didn't even bother to show up.”

Mr. Tay also challenged RIM's assertions that the sale should be blocked by the federal government on national security grounds. He said Nortel has 5,500 patents and this sale involves 125. He added that the long-term evolution (LTE) patents are to be licensed to Ericsson, not sold.

“Nortel still owns all of the LTE patents” he told the courts. “They are being licensed to Ericsson. That's all that's happening.”