“The U.S. International Trade Commission this afternoon said it voted to uphold in essence an earlier ruling that threw out a claim of patent infringement by Eastman Kodak against Apple and Research in Motion, while remanding other matters back to the administrative law judge [ALJ] for further consideration, with a deadline of August 30th,” Tiernan Ray reports for Barron’s.
Ray reports, “Kodak shares are down 68 cents, or 19%, at $2.90 in late trading, as clearly the partial affirmation of the earlier rejection of the company’s claims is a disappointment for those who were expecting a victory against Apple and RIM.”
Full article here.
Florian Mueller writes for FOSS Patents, “This is going to be an uphill battle for Kodak because the Commission still leaves it to the ALJ to decide whether the relevant patent claim is valid. If the ALJ once again concludes that it’s invalid, Kodak loses. Only the infringement of a valid patent is legally relevant.”
“Given that Kodak is not too likely to prevail, a possible outcome now is a settlement that would cost Apple and RIM a fraction — possibly a tiny fraction — of the billion-dollar amount Kodak and some observers previously considered realistic. This way, Kodak would at least get some cash to finance its restructuring while Apple and RIM could eliminate the remaining risk of losing,” Mueller writes. “Also, let’s not forget that there are federal lawsuits going on, and Apple and RIM would presumably also like to get rid of those — but on their terms now rather than Kodak’s.”
Read more in the full article here.
The U.S. ITC’s statement (.pdf) is here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “KenC” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Eastman Kodak v. Apple and RIM: target date for ITC decision postponed by one week – June 23, 2011
Apple, RIM: A win by Kodak could mean $1B settlement, says analyst – June 23, 2011
U.S. ITC judge rules against Apple in Kodak patent infringement case – May 12, 2011
Kodak wins round as ITC to review $1 billion Apple, RIM patent dispute – March 26, 2011
U.S. ITC ruling derails Kodak’s quest for royalties from Apple, RIM – January 24, 2011
Apple files patent infringement lawsuit against Kodak – April 19, 2010
U.S. ITC to probe Apple iPhones, RIM Blackberries after Kodak alleges patent infringement – February 17, 2010
Kodak sues Apple and RIM over image preview patents – January 14, 2010
Buy Kodak
But do not hold!
Bye Kodak
Apple should look into buying Kodak. Or at least parts of it The Video Cameras they’ve been developing are second to no one elses at the moment. The Printers could be potentially of value as well.
EK’s market price is less than a billion dollars. Apple could have bought the company outright to settle the claim. Not saying they would. Just saying that EK is rather tiny to be going up against a company like Apple. I feel sort of bad for EK shareholders that a drop in stock price like that.
For what purpose would it serve to buy Kodak if Apple isn’t encroaching on any of Kodak’s IP?
Perhaps a group of lawyers who are interested in becoming the latest band of patent trolls might make them an offer.
Kodak should fade away.
I know everyone thinks that Kodak is a dinosaur that should die with chemistry-based film, but the reality is that it has an extensive patent portfolio in digital imaging, especially CCD technology, and for the right company at the right price, it would be a good play. That said, I don’t think Apple is the right company…
Kodak is an institution with lots of important IP, experience, relevance and significance.
Kodak = Kodecked
Next up:
Samsung = Samsunk
Worked a bit at Kodak in the ’90s.
That was around the time management decided they could save money by laying off engineers & production workers, but still hold onto the salespeople.
Sounds like Microsoft.
I worked some for Kodak in the 80s.
As a software engineer, I used to be like you in my opinion of salespeople. Then I realized that until the product is sold, no money is made. Everyone in the organization is there for a good reason (usually).
Kodak has had better moments.
Kodak introduced the first digital camera via Apple’s QuickTake. Kodak does have some good properties and they are challenging HP with providing better pricing on INK for printers. You can buy a Kodak printer and the Black INK Is $7 vs. 35 or 40 bucks for a HP equivalent. Kodak does pull down a lot of revenue. I think around 7 billion and employees 18,000 people, so I wouldn’t knock them too hard. It is a tough market right now. If Kodak can present value and continue to innovate a little, they can do alright. It would be nice if Kodak actually made a cool photo App for all smart phones. Maybe they become the next hipstamatic or instagram and tie it too some of their services. People love to take photos, Kodak just needs to find their space.
GOOGLE LOSES NOrtel patents.
APPLE, RIM,SONY,ERICSSON,MICROSOFT win 6000 patents as a group for over 4 billion dollars.