OEM’s patent infringement claim against technology companies is dismissed by the ITC.
Tech Week Europe reports that the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has upheld a ruling made in May that Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) did not violate a Kodak patent relating to how digital cameras preview images, putting Kodak in further financial strife.
Kodak had been hoping to claim $1 billion (€826 million) in royalties from the companies over the issue and is relying on the sale of its patent portfolio, due to take place on 8 August, to lift the company out of bankruptcy. Kodak’s portfolio, thought to consist of around 1,100 patents, is estimated to be worth $2.6 billion (€2.1 billion).
According to the article, Kodak is planning to appeal against the ITC’s ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington DC.
Industry analyst Florian Mueller spoke of Apple’s strong position, commenting: “Distilled to its essence, this patent really made no contribution whatsoever to imaging technology […] if this is the best patent that Kodak has (I doubt it, but it’s what Kodak’s lawyers apparently thought after the favourable initial determination in 2009), its creditors shouldn’t expect it to extract much value out of its patent portfolio.”
However, in contrast Bloomberg has reported that Kodak has won a separate appeal filed by Apple against the company after accusing it of violating a patent regarding a way to process digital images.
After ITC ruled that the Apple patent had not been infringed by Kodak in July 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed the decision.
Chris Veronda, a spokesman for Kodak stated: “The court has affirmed that Apple’s legal position in this matter was without merit […] our position has consistently been that this dispute reflected Apple’s strategy of raising legal arguments to distract from Kodak’s central assertion that Apple and others have repeatedly violated our intellectual property rights.”