Kodak accused of patent infringement, but patent sale is approved

January 14, 2013

Kyocera files complaint against OEM prior to court’s approval of its digital patent sale.

MarketWatch reports that printer manufacturer Kyocera has accused Kodak of patent infringement, claiming that its printers and digital cameras infringe on 15 of Kyocera’s patents.

The company is suing Kodak after filing a complaint to the New York bankruptcy court overseeing Kodak’s chapter 11 bankruptcy, with Kyocera alleging that the infringement occurred during Kodak’s bankruptcy “so the claimed damages rank as top priority claims”.

While Kodak is declining to comment on the accusations, the complaint purportedly states that it has “denied liability for the alleged infringement”.

The complaint was filed ahead of the bankruptcy court’s decision to approve the sale of Kodak’s patent portfolio last week, reported by the Wall Street Journal, which saw the 1,100 digital patents being sold to Intellectual Ventures LLC for $525 million (€400 million). Intellectual Ventures will license the patents to a number of technology companies, including Google, Apple and Samsung.

However, Kyocera and other licensees were fighting against the sale of the patents going ahead before they could challenge the alleged infringements, fearing that the sale would “extinguish every right, license and defense” they had against Kodak.

In addition to Kyocera, several other Kodak licensees filed patent infringement cases against the OEM, including Ricoh, Nikon and units of Oracle Corp and Motorola Solutions Inc., with the companies complaining that protective wording approved in documents last year were not in the new sale papers taken to court.

Categories : Products and Technology

Tags : IP Kodak North America