As you should now be aware of, Microsoft is planning on hoarding purchasing a large huge block of IP addresses from Nortel. Now ARIN chief, John Curran, has made it clear that if the plan does not meet the current ARIN requirements for transfers, the IP address space can be reassigned. Here are a couple of relevant quotes:

Companies that are allocating their address to a third party can ask for compensation if they want to, he said. However, the acquiring party is required to show an immediate and appropriate need for the addresses, he said.

Existing transfer policies allow up to 12-months worth of address space to be transferred from one entity to another, he said.

So, that brings up the question, can Microsoft show a need for 666,000 in the next 12 months?

Link: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9215091/IPv4_address_transfers_must_meet_policy_ARIN_chief_says