Kodak Sues Apple for Interfering in Its Patent Sales

Kodak has sued Apple again in an attempt to stop the company from interfering with its plans to sell a large patent portfolio, reports Reuters.

In a lawsuit filed on Monday in U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan, Kodak said Apple, the largest U.S. company by market value, wrongly claims to own 10 patents arising from work that the companies did together in the early 1990s. Privately held FlashPoint Technology Inc also claims ownership through an assignment from Apple, which spun it off in 1996, and is also a defendant, Kodak said.

"Apple's strategy has been to use its substantial cash position to delay as long as possible the payment of royalties to Kodak" and interfere with the sale, Kodak said. "Apple and FlashPoint are seeking to benefit from Kodak's difficult financial position, which will be exacerbated if the debtors cannot obtain fair value for the patents."

In order keep operating while in bankruptcy and under the terms of a $950 million loan, Kodak needs to sell some patents. The company owns around 10,700 patents and is looking to offload its digital imaging/capture portfolios which includes more than 400 patents.

The patents are expected to go up for auction in early August with the winner to be announced on August 13th.

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