Kodak Loses Patent Case vs Apple/RIM
Even as Kodak Cameras have ballooned in value, Kodak is still struggling in their attempt to convert billions of dollars in patents into cash to turn around the haggard company. Unfortunately, they lost an appeal of a $1 billion patent suit against Apple and RIM, a turn of events that doesn’t help the struggling former photography giant.
Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors on January 19, a move many of us were expecting given Kodak’s poor performance in most of its businesses, the drop off in demand for film, and the inability for their digital camera products to compete. Patent litigation has in recent years been a major part of the Rochester, New York-based company’s strategy to generate revenue, as their products certainly haven’t done so.
Last month, Kodak won bankruptcy court permission to sell more than 1,100 digital imaging patents, roughly one-tenth of its patent portfolio, to help repay creditors as it shifts its business focus toward printing, Reuters reported. Among those patents was a piece of tech that covered how digital cameras preview images. Kodak issued a lawsuit against Apple and RIM regarding the perceived infringement, by U.S. courts.
The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday upheld a May 21 ruling by Judge Thomas Pender of that agency that neither Apple nor RIM had violated Kodak’s rights in the so-called ’218 patent, which covers how digital cameras preview images.
“The investigation is thus terminated,” the agency said.
Kodak opened today trading at 21.5 cents per share.
[Via Huffington Post]
