Back in August, following another dismal quarterly report, BlackBerry announced that it was exploring “strategic alternatives” – including the possible sale of the company. Earlier this week that possibility became a reality, with a consortium led by FairFax Financial offering $4.7 billion for the Canadian company.

The buyout seemed to have been announced early, with FairFax still having six weeks for due diligence. During that time, BlackBerry has the option of courting other offers. Though another wholesale offer for BlackBerry is unlikely to appear, CNN this week reported that offers for the company’s patent portfolio are a very real possibility.

The report states that BlackBerry’s patent portfolio could be worth $2 billion to $3 billion, making up possibly more than half of the FairFax offer. As was speculated shortly after BlackBerry announced its “strategic alternative” search, the company could find a better offer by selling off its more important pieces. BlackBerry’s stockpile of mobile enterprise patents could prove particularly valuable in such an endeavor.

The CNN report goes on to quote Chris Marlett, CEO of MDB Capital Group as saying BlackBerry’s patents could give a “massive advantage” to any company engaged in the widespread practice of tech patent lawsuits. Marlett was also quoted as saying the patents make up such a large portion of BlackBerry’s value “because their business is falling apart.”

(via BGR)