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Kodak Files New Patent Infringement Lawsuits Against Apple and HTC

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With Kodak on the brink of filing for bankruptcy as it pursues an auction of its patent portfolio in order to remain solvent, the company today announced that it has filed two new lawsuits alleging patent infringement by Apple and HTC.
A complaint filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) specifically claims that certain of Apple's iPhones, iPads, and iPods, and certain of HTC's smartphones and tablets infringe Kodak patents that relate to technology for transmitting images. Kodak also alleges that certain of HTC's smartphones infringe a patent that covers technology related to a method for previewing images which is already the subject of pending actions against Apple. Separately, Kodak filed suits today against Apple and HTC in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York alleging the same infringement.

"As we have stated before, Kodak is the leader in digital imaging innovation and we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars creating our pioneering patent portfolio," said Laura G. Quatela, President and Chief Operating Officer, Eastman Kodak Company. "We've had numerous discussions with both companies in an attempt to resolve this issue, and we have not been able to reach a satisfactory agreement."
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The four patents being asserted against Apple include:
- U.S. Patent No. 7,210,161 - "Automatically Transmitting Images from an Electronic Camera to a Service Provider Using a Network Configuration File"
- U.S. Patent No. 7,742,084 - "Network Configuration File for Automatically Transmitting Images from an Electronic Still Camera"
- U.S. Patent No. 7,453,605 - "Capturing Digital Images to be Transferred to an E-Mail Address"
- U.S. Patent No. 7,936,391 - "Digital Camera with Communications Interface for Selectively Transmitting Images over a Cellular Phone Network and a Wireless LAN Network to a Destination"
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A fifth patent is being asserted only against HTC.

Kodak first filed a patent infringement suit against Apple in January 2010, also targeting Research in Motion in the same effort. Apple filed a countersuit a few months later in an effort to bolster its position against Kodak.

With the new lawsuits coming just as Kodak is attempting to stave off bankruptcy, the company appears to be attempting to demonstrate strength in its patent portfolio as it hopes to attract higher bids for its intellectual property. Even if the company is unable to avoid bankruptcy, its patent portfolio is likely to be one of the key assets to be sold off in a court-ordered auction following the bankruptcy filing.

Article Link: Kodak Files New Patent Infringement Lawsuits Against Apple and HTC
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/01/10/kodak-files-new-patent-infringement-lawsuits-against-apple-and-htc/
I'm far too lazy to actually look up the patents, but from the title:

"Capturing Digital Images to be Transferred to an E-Mail Address"

Wouldn't this be obvious, as in two separate things: "Capturing digial images to a file" combined with "transferring file to an E-mail address"???
 
I heard the other day that Kodak was losing money. I'm going to guess this is part of the reason why... :rolleyes:
 
ravenvii said:
I applaud them on their plan to restructure rather than declare bankruptcy.

But this suing thing is a bit sad.
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i'm guessing they're suing in hopes of either attracting a buyer or to get some money in order to stay afloat. they're a sinking ship, that much is sure.
 
samcraig said:
Sometimes I swear you're just a "bot" based on your predictable and fortune cookie responses.
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What other response could there be?

Kodak is on the verge of bankruptcy, and in any case they're angling for some extra value (based on patents) before a possible buyout.
 
Since the patent portfolio is up for grabs now, I assume this action might be an attempt to draw attention to that portfolio and find a quick buyer. Kodak at one time was a powerful industry, but the modern world has passed them by. When I was a kid, Kodak was just about the only name you'd associate with photography. Now they're an afterthought.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Kodak is going the way of Kojak!
 
Kodak is such a sad case. Here is a company that practically invented digital photography, but instead of bringing it to consumers, tried to milk the "film-based photography" for as long as possible. Why? Because they believed their "customers" were the drug stores that ran the film developing and they knew that digital photography would upset their best "customers".

Instead Kodak did nothing in digital for years, completely missed the digital revolution, and now is finally coming across some patents they owned from way back when which they never asserted and trying to go after companies that were actually smart enough to come up with the same things on their own.

Many of their patents fall in the "obvious" realm and simply need to be challenged and invalidated. The rest of their patents should be purchased and donated to the public domain. Let Kodak go out of business and pay off whatever they can to their creditors.

Once great company now produces next to nothing and becomes a patent troll -- so sad.
 
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I lived in a suburb of Rochester (where kodak is) in the mid 90s. Such a huge percentage of the area population worked there you almost certainly knew more than one person who did.
 
BC2009 said:
Kodak is such a sad case. Here is a company that practically invented digital photography, but instead of bringing it to consumers, tried to milk the "film-based photography" for as long as possible. Why? Because they believed their "customers" where the drug stores that ran the film developing and they knew that digital photography would upset their best "customers".

Instead Kodak did nothing in digital for years, completely missed the digital revolution, and now is finally coming across some patents they owned from way back when which they never asserted and trying to go after companies that were actually smart enough to come up with the same things on their own.

Many of their patents fall in the "obvious" realm and simply need to be challenged and invalidated. The rest of their patents should be purchased and donated to the public domain. Let Kodak go out of business and pay off whatever they can to their creditors.

Once great company now produces next to nothing and becomes a patent troll -- so sad.
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With their ineptness for decades, I am amazed they were smart enough to find their own patents (if they even apply)

If Apple and HTC drag this out they may be able to buy Kodak for dollar.
On the other hand this is something Google may buy:)

PS: When in Rochester visit the Kodak museum. Makes one sad to see what would have been possible with a better management.
 
jav6454 said:
The naming of those patents is so broad. You can describe several (if not all) devices using any sort of communications.
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Part of the issue there is that these are very old patents. Today nothing so generic would be approved (at least I would hope not).

BC2009 said:
Kodak is such a sad case. Here is a company that practically invented digital photography, but instead of bringing it to consumers, tried to milk the "film-based photography" for as long as possible. Why? Because they believed their "customers" where the drug stores that ran the film developing and they knew that digital photography would upset their best "customers".

Instead Kodak did nothing in digital for years, completely missed the digital revolution, and now is finally coming across some patents they owned from way back when which they never asserted and trying to go after companies that were actually smart enough to come up with the same things on their own.

Many of their patents fall in the "obvious" realm and simply need to be challenged and invalidated. The rest of their patents should be purchased and donated to the public domain. Let Kodak go out of business and pay off whatever they can to their creditors.

Once great company now produces next to nothing and becomes a patent troll -- so sad.
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They've made digital camera sensors for years. They produced a 1 megapixel chip in the mid 1980s according to wiki (that part I didn't know). I'm not sure where they fell behind. They have had some of the best chips in the past decade, but in terms of sensors that move in suitable volume, I'm not sure where they stand.


Thunderhawks said:
With their ineptness for decades, I am amazed they were smart enough to find their own patents (if they even apply)

If Apple and HTC drag this out they may be able to buy Kodak for dollar.
On the other hand this is something Google may buy:)

PS: When in Rochester visit the Kodak museum. Makes one sad to see what would have been possible with a better management.
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It happens. Fuji seems to have transitioned pretty well. Both Xerox and Polaroid are still around, but they've been brutalized by transitions and restructuring.
 
You shouldn't be allowed to just sell off patents like that. There should be a law that when patents are just sold off like that, they diminish in value by half. Unless you are the original business unit that created the patents because you have real products to protect, you shouldn't be able to enforce the patents. IMO.
 
Oh how the once mighty has now fallen...

BC2009 said:
Kodak is such a sad case. Here is a company that practically invented digital photography, but instead of bringing it to consumers, tried to milk the "film-based photography" for as long as possible. Why? Because they believed their "customers" where the drug stores that ran the film developing and they knew that digital photography would upset their best "customers".
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This whole bankruptcy with Kodak is actually quite sad to witness :( They were once pioneers, and this shouldn't have been the mess that they found themselves in now. But ultimately a lot of it is of their own doing, unfortunately.



OrganMusic said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I lived in a suburb of Rochester (where kodak is) in the mid 90s. Such a huge percentage of the area population worked there you almost certainly knew more than one person who did.
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The University of Rochester touted one of the most impressive and biggest, if not best, Kodak sponsored labs in the country for at least a couple of decades. Unfortunate to see all this infrastructure going the way of the dodo because of their short sightedness with digital film's viability and evolution.



Thunderhawks said:
PS: When in Rochester visit the Kodak museum. Makes one sad to see what would have been possible with a better management.
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Yeah, it's pretty neat, definitely a worthy time capsule of history to behold.
 
Kodak makes really great products and is a very important company in my life as an analog photographer so I'd really really hate to see them go, but I don't think its wise for them to be going after Apple.
 
apps1991 said:
Kodak filed another lawsuits against Apple
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Its a money-grab. It has nothing to do with protecting the integrity of their products, and everything to do with stuffing the pig a little more in the hope someone will want it for dinner (patents).
 
*LTD* said:
What other response could there be?

Kodak is on the verge of bankruptcy, and in any case they're angling for some extra value (based on patents) before a possible buyout.
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Sorry - whether or not they are going to be bought or whatever - should they not protect their patents just like you assert Apple should protect theirs. You are always one to point out that Apple SHOULD be protecting their IP. Yet Kodak shouldn't? Sorry - doesn't compute.
 
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