Bankrupt photography company, Eastman Kodak Co., has sued Apple Inc. in an attempt to kill a dispute over patents. That’s right lawsuit fans, we found a story for you.
Kodak plans to sell its patents as part of a bankruptcy reorganization in New York and Apple is a potential purchaser, Kodak said in court papers yesterday. Apple claims it owns 10 of the patents in Kodak’s portfolio.
“Apple’s strategy has been to use its substantial cash position to delay as long as possible the payment of royalties to Kodak and to interfere” with the planned sale, Kodak said.
Kodak had sought a court order to declare Apple had no interest in the 10 patents, and that the photography company has permission to sell them, as well as to obtain an injunction barring Apple from asserting ownership. Kodak has received more than $3 billion in revenue from the patents since 2001.
In Manhattan, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper had dismissed Kodak’s request to rule that Apple has no interest in the patents back on June 12. He had advised the film and digital camera pioneer to file the lawsuit.
“An adversary proceeding will permit the parties to raise issues in an orderly and expeditious fashion and preserve all of their just rights,” Gropper said at the June 13 hearing.
Apple said in earlier court filings that the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, not the bankruptcy court, should hear the dispute, saying Kodak can’t use the urgency of its bankruptcy reorganization to “ramrod through a procedurally flawed and substantively meritless motion.”
