Yahoo!Inc. could earn $3 billion to $4 billion by its patent portfolio alone, the New York Post reported April 7, citingintellectual property experts.

According to sources, Yahoo owns about 6,000 patentscovering a range of technologies such as mobile messaging, data mining andbehavioral ad targeting. One of the sources reportedly said at least fivebidders have been trying to value the intellectual property owned by Yahoo,while private equity firms have also shown interest.

It, however, remains unclear which of the patents Yahoowould sell as part of a noncore deal and which it would include in the sale ofits core business. Meanwhile, Yahoo estimated the value of realestate and patents to be between $1 billion and $3 billion under"responsible monetization of IP," another source reportedly said.

Yahoo has reportedly set an April 11 deadline for interested partiesto submit preliminary bids for its core Web business and Asian assets.