You’ve got to feel sorry for Eastman Kodak Company these days -- the company whose name used to be most synonymous with photography is fighting a losing battle with Apple and RIM over their patents.
9to5Mac is reporting that the U.S. International Trade Commission has found that neither Apple nor Research in Motion have violated patents held by Eastman Kodak Company in their respective iPhone and Blackberry products. According to ITC Judge Paul Luckern, the “common image-preview feature” used in mobile phones do not violate Kodak’s existing patents.
Eastman Kodak Company is staking claim to having invented the first digital camera ever made back in 1975, which they have been hoping to use as leverage to extract royalty payments from cell phone makers such as Apple and RIM. Kodak currently holds more than 1,000 such digital imaging patents, which the company apparently hopes to capitalize on in an effort to prop up sagging sales of their own products.
Judge Luckern’s findings are only preliminary at this point -- a six-person review board at the ITC will have the last word. But as 9to5Mac notes, “it isn’t looking so great for Kodak right now.”
Things may get even worse for Kodak next week -- an ITC trial begins January 31 for Apple’s own patent infringement complaint against Kodak.
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(Image courtesy of 9to5Mac)
