"We think it's a pretty good outcome because unlike in some situations where there's massive changes and the head office functions depart Canada, that's not going to be the case here."

A shareholder vote is expected either in late December or early January. Two-thirds of shareholders have to approve the deal for it to go ahead.

WiLAN, which had $50 million in revenue last year from a range of communications and consumer produce licences and patents, couldn't be reached for comment.

It began its fight for Mosaid in August, offering $38 a share for all shares, a total of $480 million.

Patents are usually considered dull assets, but not today, especially in the exploding wireless industry. Research In Motion found that out the hard way when it had to pay US$612 million in 2006 to settle a patent fight with NTP. Since then bankrupt Nortel Networks pulled in $4.5 billion for its patents, Google Inc. paid US$12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility -- largely, analysts said, for its wireless patents.