"When we felt we had an agreement," he said. "That's when we were informed (Nortel was) pursuing other agreements with other companies."

In later testimony Friday, Ericsson officials said their license is non-exclusive.

"Nortel is free to licence them to as many other (firms) as it wants," said Ericsson Canada lawyer Richard Corley.

Lazaridis testified that RIM was effectively locked out of the bidding process last month because in order to bid for the carrier wireless assets, it would have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which included a stipulation that RIM not try to acquire other assets within a year.

"That made no sense" given the company was in liquidation, he said. "If you found a house that you discovered met all your needs... and you started working on a purchase sale agreement and then in the final hour you discovered the owner had given a lifetime lease to another party and given a sublet license to them for that property, then what benefit would there be for you to continue purchasing that house?"