“Kodak’s auction of intellectual property has yet to produce a sale. But it has had one unlikely result: turning the fiercest rivals in the global patent battle into potential collaborators,” Mike Spector, Ashby Jones and Dana Mattioli report for The Wall Street Journal.
“In recent days, the rival technology giants and patent-hoarding firms that had mounted competing bids for the portfolio have joined forces, people with knowledge of the negotiations said—a move that could take the patents off the market at a price below what Eastman Kodak Co. had hoped to raise in a competitive auction,” Spector, Jones and Mattioli report. “The bidding group brings together a raft of strange bedfellows. It includes Apple Inc. and Google Inc., fierce competitors in the global smartphone market… “People familiar with the matter said the consortium bidding on Kodak’s patents also includes Samsung Electronics Co., LG Electronics Inc. and HTC Corp., all companies building smartphones based on Google software.”
“Negotiations and the bidding group’s composition are fluid, the people said. If the consortium reaches a deal to buy some or all of Kodak’s patents, they would essentially be kept out of any one company’s hands and could prevent consortium members from using them in litigation against each other. A deal, however, could also attract attention from federal antitrust regulators,” Spector, Jones and Mattioli report. “A deal for the entire portfolio—one of many options under discussion— could fetch more than $500 million based on recent negotiations, people familiar with the process said. That is well above opening bids when the auction started last week, but far below the $2.2 billion to $2.6 billion Kodak at one point said the patents could be worth.”
Read more in the full article here.
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Samsung should not TO ANY COST get hold of these patents. It would be a disaster.
Talk about stunning the Kodak CEO! CEO’s ego will probably get in the way and they will pull sale from process – and hand over to creditors as asset/part payment. Nonetheless, a great showing of unity & strength by otherwise fierce-love-you-now-hate-you-tomorrow competitors.
I am not sure Kodak has the option to pull them from sale. This would be a sweet move to keep those patents out of the hands of Apple competitors and used against the company.
It’s up to the judge in charge of the bankruptcy at this point. ‘In for a penny, in for a pound’ at this point, I say.
I suggest the combined consortium should make a bid of $3.14159265358 Billion!!
I suggest it should be 3.1415 cents.
…turning the fiercest rivals in the global patent battle into potential collaborators
THIS I like! Fascinating. Boohoo Kodak.
Apple tried to include Gagme the first time too and they refused. It’s a win-win if they all get them, no can use them against Apple.