Thursday a judge denied Apple’s request to transfer its patent suit with Kodak to a New York district court. The venue change could have delayed plans that bankrupt Kodak had to sell off patents from their lucrative portfolio.
U.S District Court Judge George Daniels denied a request to have Eastman Kodak Co v. Apple Inc et al. moved to his court and said that before such a transfer takes place bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper must first rule on “key issues,” reports Reuters.
Daniels ruled that Gropper should have “an opportunity to render a decision on the motion and to have an opportunity to control and move forward the process.”
Kodak filed suit last month, saying Apple was interfering with plans to auction off its patent portfolio by claiming ownership of 10 inventions relating to the two companies joint venture on the QuickTake digital camera.
Kodak charged that Apple’s claims are being made merely to hold up the auction, which is expected to take place in August. Judge Gropper hasn’t as yet made a decision in the dispute.
The patents in the dispute are related to previewing digital images on a camera’s LCD screen. The patents are just a small piece of Kodak’s digital capture portfolio that has brought in more than $3 billion in licensing revenue for the company since 2001.
Kodak must sell patents from its portfolio to pay off the $950 million loan it was issued in order to stay in operation during its corporate restructuring.
