Hasta La Gadget!

Is this Kodak’s moment? It’s sure shaping up to be, as Bloomberg reports the once prominent imaging company has just earned a slight, though significant courtroom victory against Apple. At stake is the ownership of ten patents related to digital imaging, two of which have been deemed incontestable by a Manhattan bankruptcy judge due to Cupertino’s late stage ownership filing. Citing potential disruptions to next Wednesday’s auction, Judge Gropper ruled against Apple’s claims, while also striking down Kodak’s request for a summary judgment on the eight remaining IPs and leaving the door open for further dispute. So, though it may seem like the Rochester-based company is finally out of the woods, this certainly isn’t the end of its woes — Apple has now filed counterclaims and is seeking a transfer of the case to district court. And if the House that Steve built’s legal track record is any indication, it’s not going down without an interminable fight.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Judge rules against Apple in Kodak patent dispute, cites disruption to next week’s auction originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 20:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another day, another patent dispute – at least that’s what the current state of the tech world is. It looks like there’s now another war over patents between Apple and Google. According to reports online, both Apple and Google have been named as potential customers of Kodak’s upcoming patent sell-off that will take place sometime next month. According to a tweet from WSJ’s Dennis K. Berman, the two companies are the front-runners in the patent bidding war.

The details about the patent bidding war are pretty scarce at the moment but you can be pretty sure that the winner will be walking away with a lot of technology concerning photography. For those of you in the dark, Kodak is looking to sell off part of its patent collection as part of terms attached to a granted load for keeping the company afloat during its corporate restructuring. This could turn out to be an interesting battle. Stay tuned for more information.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Kodak granted approval to auction its patent portfolio, Google files complaint against Microsoft and Nokia over “mobile patent abuse” in the EU,

With Kodak’s bankruptcy, the company is attempting to sell off two large patent bundles. The company has had difficulty raising the interest in its patent auction that had originally hoped. Kodak’s chances of making a big payday on its patent auctions are now even less likely after the photography giant lost a key patent suit in court.

The blow to Kodak was more than simply losing in its intellectual property case against both Apple and RIM. The court ruled that the patent, which Kodak had been making money licensing already, was invalid. The patent in question has to do with the way images are previewed on digital cameras and is one of the about 1100 patents Kodak is trying to sell.

With one patent in the portfolio been ruled invalid, bids will likely be significantly lower than they would have previously. Kodak’s says that the patent in question had been ruled valid in prior cases, and that it intended to appeal the ruling.

“Any time one of your prime assets is considered invalid, it hurts the overall value of your patents in a major way,” says Dean Becker, chief executive of ICAP Patent Brokerage.

[via WSJ]

Patent suit loss could hurt Kodak’s auction is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Kodak won an approval from the Bankruptcy Court earlier this week to auction its patent portfolios. Both Apple and FlashPoint have previously asserted ownership of a few of Kodak’s 1,100 patents, however, the Bankruptcy Court has finally ruled that all of the patents found in its patent portfolios are of Kodak’s.

Additionally, Kodak has been granted by the court the right to sell its patents, subject to the applicable provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Kodak is selling the patents under section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code which permits a sale free and clear of any adverse claim or interest. The patents will be sold in a fair, competitive process overseen by the Bankruptcy Court.

At closing, the winning bidder can obtain an order of the Bankruptcy Court that protects it against any third-party ownership claims. “We are gratified that the Court has enabled us to move ahead with our patent auction in a timely manner and with clarity on ownership for the winning buyer,” Kodak Vice President Timothy Lynch said. The auction will be held sometime in August.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple wins 27 new patents, obtains patent for inductive charging, Kodak sues Apple, citing patent sales interference,

Photography giant Kodak has been circling the drain as its fortunes have taken a turn for the worse. The company entered bankruptcy protection from creditors a while back and has been eyeing a patent auction to help generate money to reorganizing and come back from bankruptcy. The problem for Kodak so far has been in that the patent auction has generated very little interest.

Another big problem for Kodak and its patent auction plans was that Apple, and a company called FlashPoint objected to some of the patents that Kodak planned to put up for auction. Apple claimed ownership of 10 of the patents Kodak is trying to sell as part of a Kodak and Apple collaboration on the QuickTake camera in the 90s. Kodak denied either of the two companies own any of the patents in its portfolio.

Despite Apple’s objections and claims of ownership for some of the patents, the court cleared the way for buyers to submit bids on a confidential basis for the auction expected to be held early next month. The auction will be for two patent bundles with one containing about 700 patents covering image capture, processing, and transmission technologies for digital cameras and other devices. The second portfolio has about 400 patents covering tools for image analysis, manipulation, tagging, and more.

“The Apple and FlashPoint claims are baseless and Kodak will still seek dismissal on summary judgment in July,” Timothy Lynch, Kodak Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Officer, said.

[via AFP]

Kodak patent auction gets the go ahead despite Apple objections is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.