Kodak sues Apple to prevent interference with patent sale

Kodak has accused Apple in a new lawsuit of attempting to interfere with its plans to sell off its patent portfolio.

The suit was filed on Monday in U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan, according to Reuters. Kodak has accused Apple of wrongly claiming to own 10 patents related to a cooperative project between the two companies in the 1990s, the QuickTake camera.

The 10 patents in question are among more than 700 that Kodak is attempting to sell. But the suit alleges that Apple has used "its substantial cash position to delay" the sale of those patents, and also to prevent Kodak from collecting royalties.

Also named as a defendant in the case is FlashPoint Technology Inc., which claims ownership of patents through an assignment from Apple.

Kodak has been hyping the value of its patent portfolio as being potentially worth billions of dollars. The photography pioneer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January of this year.

The company expects to auction its patent portfolio in early August, and to announce a winning bidder by August 13. Kodak has singled out Apple as both a potential purchaser of the patents, as well as the largest infringer of patents in its portfolio.

Kodak suffered a major setback in its patent sale last month, when an initial ruling from the U.S. International Trade Commission concluded that U.S. Patent No. 6,292,218 is invalid. That patent has been seen by some as the "crown jewel" of Kodak's patent portfolio. Kodak is appealing the decision.

16 Comments

wizard69 13358 comments · 21 Years

About 12 years ago

So sad!!! At this point Kodak looks pretty pathetic.

jd_in_sb 1599 comments · 14 Years

The fact that Kodak had to hype the perceived value of their patent portfolio sounds desperate and sad.

solipsismx 19562 comments · 13 Years

[quote name="wizard69" url="/t/150801/kodak-sues-apple-to-prevent-interference-with-patent-sale#post_2130687"]So sad!!! At this point Kodak looks pretty pathetic.[/quote] On the other hand when you're struggling to survive anything, no matter how remote or unlikely, is worth the risk. I saw Bear Grylls squeeze a fresh elephant turd over his head so he could drink the diarrhea water to help prevent dehydration at the risk of various other issues. Desperate times call for desperate measures. That said, it sure as hell doesn't look dignified. :[SIZE=3]D[/SIZE] [VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMtVfpGhzaw[/VIDEO]

maestro64 5029 comments · 19 Years

Just another company who fell pray to the Ivy League MBA management teams and Wall Street's quarterly metrics. When they work with Apple back in the 80's and 90's on digital photography and printing technology they had the jump on the entire industry. They failed to capitalize on it since they were so worried about printing more film to preserve the cash cow revenue stream.

Kodak was a great company, with lots of great technology, but poorly managed that is for sure.

mrstep 523 comments · 15 Years

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolipsismX On the other hand when you're struggling to survive anything, no matter how remote or unlikely, is worth the risk. I saw Bear Grylls squeeze a fresh elephant turd over his head so he could drink the diarrhea water to help prevent dehydration at the risk of various other issues. Desperate times call for desperate measures. That said, it sure as hell doesn't look dignified. :D

Well they're definitely squeezing a turd over their own heads at this point. (And I remember that episode - FAR from dignified! ;) )

Sad that they so totally missed the boat on the shift to digital, sadder when you consider they were really early into the market when they were working with Apple, and strange that they're selling patents that they worked on with Apple while disputing ownership amongst other things. Desperate times indeed.