Problems do not seem to cede for the troubled photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Co., which was recently trying to sell off its patent portfolio under the terms of bankruptcy.
Kodak has now sued Apple which it claims is trying to interfere with sales of its patent portfolio.
As per the lawsuit filed by Kodak, Apple is wrongly trying to claim ownership of 10 patents which Kodak and Apple had worked on together in the early 1990’s. FlashPoint Tech is another privately held firm which also claims ownership of the patents as it was contracted by Apple at that time to work on thise patents and later spin off in 1996.
The patent in question here is a technology that allows users to preview their photographs on the LCD. And it’s a part of the digital capture portfolio which boasts of about 700 other patents and has helped Kodak generate around $3 billion in revenues since 2001.
Kodak states in the suit that Apple is the top infringer of these patents and a potential bidder as well. Hence Apple is trying to delay the sale of the patents and thus undermine its value.
As per Kodak, both Apple and FlashPoint both are trying to take advantage of Kodak’s precarious position which would deteriorate further, should the patent sale be delayed or the patents be auctioned for a lesser value than expected.
Earlier on June 1, Apple has stated in a court filing that the disputes involves complex issues which are independent of bankruptcy issues and hence the matter should be taken up in a district court rather than a bankruptcy court and also that Kodak was trying to get an unfair judgement intheir favour by trying to hasten the judgement.
Well, it remains to be seen if the suit is indeed transferred to a district court as being demanded by Apple and if at all the auction process is delayed which involves the sale of a whopping 10,700 patents and is set to take place in the first week of August with the winner slated to be declared on 13th of August.
