Kodak wins two patents dispute against Apple
02 Aug 2012
A US bankruptcy judge yesterday gave Eastman Kodak Co the green light by to proceed with the sale of two key digital imaging patents, despite technology giant Apple Inc laying infringement claim on them.
US bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper of the Manhattan court approved the sale saying that Apple has taken too long to assert its claim of infringement.
The order came a week after another District Court denied Apple and its former subsidiary Flashpoint Technologies plea to move the patent dispute out of bankruptcy court.
This decision gave the bankruptcy Court Judge Allan Gropper the right to hear the patent dispute case.
Judge Allan Gropper approved the sale of patents '218' and '335', both disputed by Apple. The Cupertino, California-based maker of the iPhone claims that it has the rights to the patents since Flashpoint worked together with Kodak on the patents in 1990s.
Kodak had in January 2010 filed lawsuits against Apple and Research In Motion (RIM), alleging that both the companies' smartphones infringes on one of its patent on digital imaging technology, but Judge Thomas Pender of the International Trade Commission (ITC), in his May preliminary ruling, held that neither Apple nor RIM infringed on Kodak's rights by using the technology in some of their gadgets as the patent was invalid.