Eastman Kodak Co. declared bankruptcy on Thursday, and on the same day Apple Inc. announced it’s going into the school textbook business. But there is one more link between the two companies. Kodak has accused Apple of patent infringements, stating that the troubled camera-maker actually owns the patents in question.
Kodak even accused HTC, earlier this month, for one of its patents, but Apple was contended to have infringed four digital camera image-related patents.
The case against HTC has seen no real progress, but the lawsuit against Apple has backfired at Kodak. Kodak’s filing with the US Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, saw Apple requesting the court to block Kodak’s attempt to obtain loans using the patents as collateral.
It was revealed in a number of confidential digital camera technologies to Kodak that the tech giant, Apple and Kodak had worked together “to explore how the two companies could work together on various projects including commercialization of Apple’s digital cameras”, back in the early 1990s.
Apple noted that Kodak had come on terms with the company, agreeing to a non-disclosure agreement, which also stated that any changes or developments that Kodak made to these technologies remained the property of Apple. The Cupertino giant claimed that thus the disputed patents actually belong to Apple and not Kodak.
Apple added to the torment, saying that it “became aware in 2010 that Kodak had misappropriated Apple’s technology and sought patents of its own claiming this technology,” bringing a lawsuit against the company in August 2010. the said case is still ongoing.
Interestingly, one of the patents, which Apple claims to be the owner of, has been the basis of a number of lawsuits between Kodak and other popular companies, including Sony, Samsung and LG. For the same, Apple estimated that Kodak has enjoyed a healthy revenue of around $3bn in licensing revenues from it, and has asked Kodak to give Apple a share of it. In its filing, the Cupertino giant has rather requested Kodak to hand over “all or a substantial portion of the licensing revenues that Kodak has obtained based on its improper claims to ownership”.
If that is to happen, Kodak will only suffer further, which will kill the company’s backbone, which is its patents. For long, the Eastman Kodak Co. has rode over those patents to stay in business, with the company making digital photography a household experience. On the other hand, Apple is a company, which has been the originator of a number of devices in the tech world.
However, as far as patents are concerned, Apple has almost always played safe, binding partners, whose patents it has been using. Even though Apple is in the middle of controversies, where patent attack from Samsung is firing, it is still much more than safe, when one talks abut patents.
This case would be eagerly awaited, as the decision of the same on either side, would have devastating effects in the tech world.