ITC delays ruling on Kodak suit against Apple until Sept. 2012
With Eastman Kodak's cash reserves continuing to dwindle, the U.S. International Trade Commission has pushed back the expected date for a final decision on the company's patent infringement complaint against Apple from December of this year to September 2012.
An administrative judge for the commission has set a new target date of Sept. 21, 2012, the Associated Press reports. The delay is a significant setback for the photography pioneer as it struggles to return to profitability.
Kodak CEO Antonio Perez said earlier this year that the company is hoping for as much as $1 billion in royalty revenues. It received nearly as much from South Korean electronics giants Samsung and LG in a settlement over the same patent a few years ago.
But, with just $862 million in the bank as of Sept. 30, Kodak may not last until the ITC's final ruling if current losses continue. Without any new patent licensing boons, the company bled $222 million in the third quarter of 2011. Perez remains optimistic, however, estimating that Kodak will end the year with $1.4 billion in the bank.
Kodak first sued Apple in January 2010, alleging that the iPhone maker had infringed on image previewing patents. BlackBerry maker Research in Motion was also included in the complaint.
This January, a judge handed down an initial ruling absolving Apple and RIM and declaring the patent in question to be invalid. Then, in June, the commission upheld a portion of the ruling, while also sending some parts of the case back to the judge.
The company's case was thrown into uncertainty this summer when the judge presiding over the complaint retired. The nine-month extension will now provide the new judge with ample time to review arguments from RIM and Kodak, according to the AP's report.
Apple has filed its own countersuit against Kodak, but has had little luck with its complaint. The ITC ruled in July that Kodak had not infringed on Apple's digital imaging software patents.
Mounting losses have also led Kodak to consider selling off its digital imaging patents, including the one currently being used in its lawsuit against Apple and RIM. The company said in July it was looking for buyers to purchase the 1,100-patent collection. Kodak has said that a large number of companies have expressed interest in buying the patents.
One analyst valued the trove at $3 billion, more than 15 times the company's current market capitalization of $179.52 million. Skittish investors sold off Kodak stock on Monday, resulting in a nearly 20 percent drop in its value. Shares of the company are down 87 percent since the beginning of the year.
An administrative judge for the commission has set a new target date of Sept. 21, 2012, the Associated Press reports. The delay is a significant setback for the photography pioneer as it struggles to return to profitability.
Kodak CEO Antonio Perez said earlier this year that the company is hoping for as much as $1 billion in royalty revenues. It received nearly as much from South Korean electronics giants Samsung and LG in a settlement over the same patent a few years ago.
But, with just $862 million in the bank as of Sept. 30, Kodak may not last until the ITC's final ruling if current losses continue. Without any new patent licensing boons, the company bled $222 million in the third quarter of 2011. Perez remains optimistic, however, estimating that Kodak will end the year with $1.4 billion in the bank.
Kodak first sued Apple in January 2010, alleging that the iPhone maker had infringed on image previewing patents. BlackBerry maker Research in Motion was also included in the complaint.
This January, a judge handed down an initial ruling absolving Apple and RIM and declaring the patent in question to be invalid. Then, in June, the commission upheld a portion of the ruling, while also sending some parts of the case back to the judge.
The company's case was thrown into uncertainty this summer when the judge presiding over the complaint retired. The nine-month extension will now provide the new judge with ample time to review arguments from RIM and Kodak, according to the AP's report.
Apple has filed its own countersuit against Kodak, but has had little luck with its complaint. The ITC ruled in July that Kodak had not infringed on Apple's digital imaging software patents.
Mounting losses have also led Kodak to consider selling off its digital imaging patents, including the one currently being used in its lawsuit against Apple and RIM. The company said in July it was looking for buyers to purchase the 1,100-patent collection. Kodak has said that a large number of companies have expressed interest in buying the patents.
One analyst valued the trove at $3 billion, more than 15 times the company's current market capitalization of $179.52 million. Skittish investors sold off Kodak stock on Monday, resulting in a nearly 20 percent drop in its value. Shares of the company are down 87 percent since the beginning of the year.
Comments
I'm going to create a new website called PatentInsider. I'll probably make millions because pretty soon there will be more patent news articles than rumor articles.
Too late. I've already patented, trademarked, copyrighted, and foodstamped PatentInsider.
Too late. I've already patented, trademarked, copyrighted, and foodstamped PatentInsider.
"Bullshit!"
Apple should buy Kodak.
It wouldn't shock me to see Apple buy up the Kodak patent portfolio, but I don't expect it. Both Apple and Google look to be seeking out communications-type patents instead, with Google in particular flying under the radar with some of the IP they've acquired in the past few months.
Their latest is a pretty darn important group, primarily involving 3G, purchased from Golden Bridge Technologies. In fact some of the patents now transferred to Google are being used in active IP infringement cases involving even claims against Motorola.
Correction: Google didn't buy the specific patents that GBT is asserting against Apple, Moto, Amazon and others, purchasing instead a related group from them said to be equally important.
"Bullshit!"
Yes, I used that word a lot last week.
It wouldn't shock me to see Apple buy up the Kodak patent portfolio, but I don't expect it.
If Apple thinks it will have to pay Kodak it might be cheaper to buy the company to nullify the royalty payments.
Yes, I used that word a lot last week.
If Apple thinks it will have to pay Kodak it might be cheaper to buy the company to nullify the royalty payments.
True, which is about the only reason I could see them being worthwhile to Apple.
Kodak hasn't been innovating for a long time. Film days are over, and gone are the cameras Kodak built around modified Canon/Nikon bodies that at one time were state-of-the-art. Now Kodak is in the (failing) business of patent trolling (and much less so producing few sensors for Leica and others). As much as I don't want America to lose yet more jobs, Kodak is imo a has been in the digital era.
It's not about films, it's about chemistry
just thing that happend to AGFA Konica Fuji ..
I bought a bunch of Kodak Tri-X years ago. (It's a 400 ISO black and white film, for those that don't know. One of the most famous film stocks of all time.) Then I got a Nikon D-SLR, and I still have most that Tri-X. Kind of sums up what happened to Kodak in general.
I could tell some stories about film and Kodak but frankly they did themselves in with arrogance. What is worst Digital is now both better and cheaper for run of the mill photography, so Kodak doesn't have a chance.
What is funny is Kodak right now is pushing hard for a share of the photo printer business. Again the problem is keeping photos on paper is quickly becoming a thing of the past. So they are again focused on a dying market.
Now Kodak is in the (failing) business of patent trolling (and much less so producing few sensors for Leica and others). As much as I don't want America to lose yet more jobs, Kodak is imo a has been in the digital era.
They sold the sensor division to an equity company last month.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/07/sho...nsor-business/
Kodak is staking it's future on patent trolling to bring in enough cash to get them through to their printers being profitable. After 5 or 6 years of losing money the printer division is supposed to become profitable real soon now, any day now, just around the corner...
I just got off the phone with a Kodak rep. They're also pushing commercial-grade large-format print media, with a few sample rolls being sent my way.